THE MARK TWAIN'S SATIRE WITH A MORALIZING PURPOSE IN THE BOOK

THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER.

To what extent does Mark Twain's satire have a moralizing effect on the book The

Adventures of Tom Sawyer?

English B

Category 3

Number of words: 3975

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 INDEX

INTRODUCTION 3

CHAPTER I: THE SATIRE 4

1.1 Twain`s Satire 4

1.2 Satirical author 5

1.3 The irony and sarcasm 6

CHAPTER II: THE SATIRE AND MORAL 7

2.1 Morals in relation to customs. 7

CHAPTER III: THE MORALIZING EFFECT OF SATIRE 9

CONCLUTION 15

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES 16

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 INTRODUCCTION

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is one of the books considered the masterpiece of

American literature, it narrates the life of a mischievous and adventurous boy in

which in each action leaves a new learning through satire, which often this incursion

in the work, has the characteristic of being very reflective and with a moralizing

intention, it is expressed through irony, sarcasm, mockery and playfulness in order to

achieve its goal. It should also be noted that the author is one of the greatest

proponents of this literary figure, in addition it was identified that satire has a specific

objective, and is to cause a new idea or moral in the reader, for that To what extent

does Mark Twain's satire have a moralizing effect on the book The Adventures of

Tom Sawyer?

In this case we will analyze the development of Twain's satire in relation to the

effect it has on a reader, the changes it can produce and the ways in which he

expresses it in the book, in particular I consider that satire is linked to the moral of a

person, since it expresses a very well founded criticism in an indirect way in this

case through the adventures and experiences of a child. The society and the context

in which Twain lived are fundamental to create his position on a subject, as in this

case it is expressed at a logical, cultural, religious or stereotypical belief level in

which society is immersed, and Twain’s satire focuses on this by creating a study in

a burlesque and ironic way in order to provoke a change.

That is why, in this monographic research, Mark Twain's satire will be

analyzed in relation to the moralizing effect it has on the reader in the book of Tom

Sawyer's adventures.

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 CHAPTER 1: THE SATIRE

Satire is one of the oldest and most important literary resources of the literary genre,

it could evolve throughout time, and was born in Greece, having Aristophanes as its

greatest exponent. According to Elliot (1962):

Satire, artistic form, chiefly literary and dramatic, in which human or

individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure

by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, parody, caricature, or

other methods, sometimes whit an intent to inspire social reform. (p.

88)

Satire is a method by which the great authors of the ancient and modern world

expressed their displeasure about some topic and criticized it in a burlesque, ironic

and funny way to achieve a funny satire, as is the method and development of Mark

Twain, in which he shows us in his book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer the

occurrences that leave us moral learnings, for a social good and an assertive

interaction between all.

Something very important to highlight about the term "satire" is that it is freely

expressed in any field, since we can find it in politics, social, economic and culture

itself, and this is expressed through literature with very clear purposes such as

reflection, or a moral endowment in the reader.

1.1 Twain's Satire

Mark Twain was one of the best known satirical authors of the United States in the

years of 1862, he belonged to the movement “realism and irony hand in hand”, he

was also one of the developers of satire, and is considered the father of American

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literature, for his great mastery in the creation of literary texts, in which his books

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and its sequel "The Adventures of Huckleberry

Finn" stand out, in them we can find a development and application of satire in an

appreciable way, since he shows us in the course of the work a lot of linguistic

aesthetics about the attitudes of the characters, such as the great difference

between Tom and Sidney, something that goes beyond a social guide of what should

be done to be a good person, however Tom breaks all the rules.

Many authors and analysts recognize Twain for his work in creating satirical

books, the way he develops and the effect it causes on a person's morals. According

to Hudspeth (2016):

American author, Mark Twain, is one of the best-known satirical writers

in history. His novel about Tom Sawyer relies heavily on satire and

humor to make observations about human nature. Twain does indeed

use exaggeration and different types of irony, verbal and dramatic,

parody to poke fun at the people and culture of St. Petersburg, the

town where Tom Sawyer lives. (para. 1)

Twain is a very important author and recognized for his satirical expressions through

his book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which also has a moralizing purpose in a

reader.

1.2 Satirical author

A satirical author is a person with adequate qualities of analysis of a problematic

reality, who can express his displeasure with some topic, and does it in a critical

way, which includes his point of view, an amusing idea and leaves the reader with a

different idea of what he conceives of his environment.

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 It is very important to highlight the great work of satirical authors, since it is

very difficult to generate an idea that pleases and contrasts with the reader.

According to José de Larra (1836):

The satirist must know the space in which he is going to develop his analysis.

That is why the satirist must perfectly understand the spirit of the century to

which he belongs; and this is the great difference between the satirists of

ancient and modern literature that shocks the scholar. (p. 2)

Twain is a great satirical author, and if we compare the mentioned quotation and the

author of the chosen work, we will see a great similarity in Twain's knowledge of his

social context, since he develops the work with much satire of his places of origin, of

his context, a society guided by stereotypes, and that in many occasions Mark tried

to mock through the characters and in an implicit way.

These are the qualities of Twain's satire, which expresses an idea contrary to

the monotony, criticizes and ridicules society and religious believers, and does so

through a naughty boy who apparently does not mind being the boy of the month.

These actions from my point of view could generate a new moral idea, as a new free

thinker, humanist and more rooted to life than to stereotypes.

1.3. The irony and sarcasm

Satire is a literary figure of a general nature, nevertheless, it has irony and sarcasm

as an important point to achieve its final objective. Irony is to say the opposite of

what is believed to be understood, it is expressed implicitly but with textual character

in a work, in addition irony serves, on occasions, not to enter the nerve and core of a

particular topic or to pronounce on a controversial issue, while sarcasm focuses on

implying the opposite or expressing displeasure, but these two concepts are closely

related to satire, and its ultimate goal is to give a reflective message in the reader.

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 In the development of the work we can identify irony as well as sarcasm as a

means to give a message, either corrective or allusive to a topic with moral

purposes.

CHAPTER II: THE SATIRE AND MORAL

Satire, being a literary figure with a focus on a specific population, has many

objectives and functions to fulfill and one of them is morality, and this term (morality)

implies a series of attitudes under norms of assertive inclusion, which is very

important for a person to be correct with his behavior, it must also be built from a

personal analysis and not the interpositions. According to the writer Hemingway

says, "It is moral what makes one feel good, immoral what makes one feel bad.

Judged by these moral criteria which I am not trying to defend, bullfighting is very

moral to me." That being said, morality is the ability to diversify between good and

bad, in the same way it has a great link with society and the actions it can take, and

we mostly find it as the effect of satire. It is for this reason that Mark Twain

developed satire in his book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, thus creating a method

in which he seeks a balance between good and bad in its context.

2.1 Morals in relation to customs.

The context for the creation of satire lies in the satirist's good understanding of the

times, as well as his knowledge of the environment in which he finds himself, such

as customs, religion, culture and ways of relating to society. That is why the moral

achieved by a satire is directly influenced by the context of customs, whether

ideological or social, that may exist in a context.

The book of the adventures of Tom Sawyer's was written in the mid-

nineteenth century, in a North American context of expansion and development of all

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kinds. The colonization of new territories in North America in the mid-19th century

greatly influenced the way Twain perceives the culture that was being formed. Thus,

we can see the new customs of the people, the alienation experienced in those

times, the religious influence and the cultural crossover with European countries.

According to Twain (2003):

Breakfast over, Aunt Polly assembled the family for religious practices, which

began with a prayer built, from the ground up, with spun outlets of Bible

quotations, Tom adjusted his breeches, so to speak, and set to work to "learn

his verses," for his mind flitted through all spheres of human thought and his

hands were busy with absorbing and recreational tasks. (p. 40)

The new perceptions of religion in North America came to the fore at the beginning

of the country's independence, and many of them had become strongly rooted in the

culture and customs of the people, and played an important role in their decisions.

However, as already mentioned, Tom Sawyer is a boy who goes against all these

rules, and is characterized by being an adventurer without limits. In the selected

fragment, can be appreciate the ways in which religion and Christianity had become

an unwavering routine of religious practices, and in the part "They began with a

prayer built from the ground up with exits spun from biblical quotations", can be see

how this new custom was seen from a very poor and humble family like Tom's,

besides the fact that religion was the foundation and the only way out of society.

However Tom, had taken it as an obligation rather than as a priority or respect, and

we can see how it manifests itself when the family sets out to pray some biblical

quotes, in the part "Tom adjusted his underpants, so to speak", it is expressed in a

burlesque way what could really represent the new religious perceptions, and we can

appreciate the satire that is said about religion, besides seeing a type of "equiscient"

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narrator, in which Twain knows and exposes all of Tom's emotions, however he

limits himself to expressing only the interior, and not its context, besides the author's

position and views on the subject.

CHAPTER III: THE MORALIZING EFFECT OF SATIRE

Satire is a literary device used by authors throughout history, it expresses

indignation, mockery, irony, sarcasm and a combination of humor with a critical

thought about something with which one disagrees. In the book of the adventures of

Tom Sawyer it is an indispensable technique during development.

The effects achieved through satire are multiple, but the most important is to

achieve a change in a person's behavior and the moralizing effect on the reader.

Mark Twain is one of the most recognized satirical authors of North America,

and in his book we can appreciate a very specific satire with its purposes, but often

goes unnoticed, as these are hidden in the text, and it requires a good understanding

where satire can be expressed, and to be more specific with the true purpose within

the framework of morality. One of them would be when it is mentioned.

She seldom or never looked through them for so small a thing as a

boy; they were her state pair, the pride of her heart, and were built for

"style," not service—she could have seen through a pair of stove-lids

just as well. (Twain, 2003, p. 8)

In this fragment we can find a very perfect satire, since it mentions a very important

society that lives in an egocentrism, and Twain tries to express in a personal way the

type of people that are on the banks of the Mississippi river. Twain alludes in the

book that part to criticize, expose and ridicule a society that knows how to boast of

the little it has, also a humor is identified, since it is something funny to see a person

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who does not use his lens to see people who do not deserve it, like a naughty child,

and why do we say it is a perfect satire, in this fragment an important part of satire is

expressed, as is "Sarcasm", since it expresses an opinion of the author in a way that

may offend the receiver, and this in the part "I could have seen through a pair of

stoves just as well", the author compares his lens to stoves, something that on many

occasions would confront a person who believes that a lens is something remarkable

in a value. These expressions by the author have a moralizing effect because they

can change stereotypical attitudes, as in this case a person's pride and self-

centeredness could have a change.

In the same way, we can appreciate a religious satire that the author could

provide us to be able to continue analyzing the book in relation to the moral of the

satire. A great clash of cultural beliefs of faith is expressed, since Tom feels that the

truth is safeguarded by God, however that does not happen and refers to the fact

that god could not do justice, rather it is the devil who is in all the facts, and it is

already the protagonist who takes the position of God, and everything is referred to

evil, and not to justice.

They were waiting every moment for the heavens to open and for God to let

lightning fall on that head, admiring to see how the blow was delayed. And

when it was over and yet still alive and whole, their hesitating impulse to break

the oath and save the prisoner's life was completely dissipated, for it was

clear that the infamous man had sold himself to Satan, and it would be fatal to

meddle with things belonging to so powerful and formidable a being, and the

two boys, seeing that the lightning still did not appear, affirmed themselves in

the belief that Joe had sold himself to the devil. (Twain, 2003, p. 130)

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The author expresses a very great confusion of the two children, and in it is evident

the very erroneous nature of the facts in the midst of religion, in addition that many

actions are related around God or the Devil. At first, not evidencing a possible

existence of God, they cling to the alternative that the devil is more powerful and

does not allow true justice. This would put in judgment many positions why none of

the powerful beings acts in the action of evil in a human being. This literary

expression that Mark Twain makes refers largely to people who believe in God as a

mediator of problems, instead of, the solution to all conflicts only the human being

has it (Tom and Huckleberry), besides that religion cannot be involved as a

regulatory measure of a conflict and only humans are responsible for what we know

and what we can do. In the extract we could see the ways in which the children cling

to religious circumstances as the most just, however this does not make sense as

powerful beings cannot find the justice of the crime expressed in the book. This is

why the satire has a moralizing effect on the way people perceive new thinking, in

which in many occasions it could be expressed as questioning religious dogmas and

the justice it represents in a believing society. The satire presented was exposed in a

very religious context, plus this created many biases in the good search for justice,

and not based on assumptions of powerful domains that children believe (Tom and

Huckleberry).

Religious incidences are widely used and criticized by Twain in the book, as

for example, a part in which he satirically reproaches a religious society, in which to

be a good person one does not have to be an ideal to follow, but to be oneself and

enjoy one's adventures. Twain (2003):

Surely you know the names of the twelve disciples, don't you want to

tell us the names of the first two who were chosen?

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 Tom continued mute.

-You are going to tell me," said the lady.

The names of the first disciples were?

-David and Goliath! (p. 56)

Twain demonstrates his great analysis of his social environment, and develops a

remarkable satire, as he creates an ideal in the reader of a new form of freedom of

knowledge, and not a guided religious stereotype, he also shows us that to be a

good child should not be guided and obey the religious orders, such as knowing the

bible or its concepts, rather, to be oneself, someone who creates his own rules for

the integrity of a society, as the author gives the characteristics to Tom, as he is a

child who enjoys his freedom and insight, and does not allow rules to guide him. In

the aforementioned quote, the protagonist confuses the first two disciples "Peter"

and "James" with the characters of David and Goliath, this mistake cost him a

recognition to the best boy in town, but the author creates a satire with it, by

expressing a contrary ideal about a religious society, questioning it in the ways in

which it is building the new society.

From another point of view, the literary figure of irony also contributes to focus

Twain's satire in an analysis of Tom's existing behavior, which also raises the

internal confusion of the character.

They tried to silence them by reminding their consciences that they had stolen

candy and apples dozens of times before; but consciences were not

appeased by such subtleties. It seemed to them, however, that there was no

way to get over the unshakable fact that taking candy was nothing more than

"taking," while taking ham and bacon and the like was simply "stealing," and

there was a commandment against it in the Bible. So they resolved in their

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 inner selves that, so long as they remained in the trade, their piracies would

never again be debased by the crime of theft. (Twain, 2003, p. 154)

In the quote we can see that the adventurous children decided to abandon their daily

routine and embark on the Mississippi river to become pirates, but the illusions

vanish in a short time, since they feel guilty for having stolen hams and bacon, which

creates an irony, since deciding to be pirates implies that they are thieves, This

creates a humorous irony and the effect of a great change that Tom will have

regarding his actions, since feeling guilty he cannot enjoy his work, and as Ernest

Hemingway mentioned, morality cannot go against a person's perception of evil. This

is why the satire creates a great reflection that goes beyond the character, since the

reader is also influenced.

Tom, is a boy who through his pranks made the people around him more

sensitive, from a disobedience of rules, changed the way his aunt Polly treated him,

also made him rediscover the lost love of the family, broke those barriers of the good

child under the religious margins and social-cultural stereotypes, which is why, the

objective of the moralizing effect does change the attitudes of the characters, and is

influenced by Twain's criticism and his perception of his subtly ridiculed environment.

However, satire is seen as a counterpoint to stereotypes, which in many cases are

already a structural part of society and that mockery only creates inconsistencies. In

the same way, in the book it is evident that deviation from the some objectives of

satire, which often lead to a symbol of freedom, since Tom often does not comply

with the rules, although they have a justification, the author also evidences that satire

is not applicable to everything bad in society, but to seek balance. Thus, becoming a

pirate was not conducive to morality, as it went against the imposed rules and

implied being a violent person, so doing what one wants does not necessarily have

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to seek the opposite of the rules. However, this is just a humorous representation of

how the real author Mark Twain perceived his environment.

In the book, many religious stereotypes are evidenced, and compared to the

present time no longer seem to make sense, such as judging a person around God

and the devil, something that we no longer see often and we rely on justice, not

religion, which is why Twain to some extent creates the search for human utopia, as

the increasingly closer to predict the human future and seeks ways to make it more

perfect. Besides that egocentrism and humanism are one of the most witty in the

narrative, and it is in which Twain's satire comes to the fore, through Tom, a naughty

boy who often discovers the errors of society, and goes against all the rules to

highlight the satire.

In the same way, the effect is evident in the change of Tom's attitudes, which

also relates to the reader, such as pride, contempt, egocentrism and religious, social,

historical and cultural stereotypes. These changes are achieved after a ridiculing of

the actions, either using various resources (Irony and sarcasm) or the same social

rules of the context that makes it clear that they are not in agreement, also that this

is even more remarkable because the culture of the people of the past centuries,

especially North America was stricter, newly formed, influenced by Europe and

based mostly on stereotypes.

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 CONCLUTION

To sum up, the present extended essay analyzed Mark Twain's satire in the work

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and concluded that satire has to a great extent a

moralizing effect on the book, and consequently on the reader. The ways in which a

satire changes people's bad attitudes, and mostly ridicules the context in which they

live, expressing stereotypes and flaws, can be evidenced, and all are very

appreciable, however, this kind of analysis leads in some moments to people's free

will, as the satire analyzes the too much religious obstruction in St. Petersburg, and it

is evident that the solution is freedom, and an unprecedented choice of decisions

and that it has nothing to do with the morality of the satire.

The limitations that arose during the work, were that the demarcation of the

research topic were very broad, besides that as already mentioned, the author's

satire is very implicit, and it needs a lot of analysis to identify it. Nevertheless, the

topic of study and the approach were very understandable to me, and it was

successfully concluded.

Finally, the issues that were not highlighted in the research are the ways in

which the context of the time is very important to be able to analyze the saturation at

present, or in which way the current contrast implies a more entrenched satire with

stereotypes, besides if satire also leads to bad habits of free will. Accordingly, the

following questions are asked for future research. To what extent does satire have a

direct relationship with free will? Or how can we relate satire to the production

context of books?

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 REFERENCES

Elliot, R. (1962). The power of satire: Ritual art. Shakespeare Quarterly. 13(1), 88-

90. Accessed July 20, 2021. https://academic.oup.com/sq/article-

abstract/13/1/88/5125419?redirectedFrom=fulltext

Hemingway, E. (2021). Death in the afternoon. Goodreads. Accessed June 11,

2021. https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/literary-nonfiction

Hudspeth, J. (2016). Satire in Tom Sawyer. Study.com.

https://study.com/academy/lesson/satire-in-tom-sawyer.html

José de Larra, M. (1836). Of satire and satirists. The Spanish. Journal of Doctrines

and Social Interests, (123), 488-491.. Accessed June 20, 2021.

http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/de-la-satira-y-de-los-satiricos--

0/html/ff80ea16-82b1-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_2.html

Twain, M. (2003). The adventures of tom sawyer. Misuri: The Cid editor.

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