alcohol

How does the use of alcohol and tobacco become ways to satirize the South?

Mark Twain certainly depicts the South, through the alcohol and tobacco users in his novel, __The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn__, satirically. These depictions begin with Huck’s mendicant father, who is portrayed as an abusive drunk who cannot provide for his own son. Huck’s entire town is aware of his persistent alcohol abuse and the “gang” that Huck joins will not accept Huck’s father as a sufficient family member to kill if Huck was to ever divulge the secrets of the gang. Another instance of the satirical portrayal of the South with regards to drugs and alcohol can be seen when Huck visits a town on the banks of the Mississippi. In the unnamed town, a man named Boggs is running around in a drunken rage threatening to kill people. The citizens of the town, however, are not concerned by his threats, as he is apparently “the best naturedest old fool in Arkansas” (Twain 119). At another point in Huck’s journey, he comes across townspeople who are avid tobacco users. The town that these people live in contains free-roaming pigs, and the people are portrayed as degenerates who cannot even buy their own tobacco--the substance that fuels their addiction. The townspeople are constantly asking each other for a “chaw’v tobacker” (Twain 117). A final example can be witnessed when the duke and the king repair their broken friendship after their attempted scam went awry by drinking copious amounts of alcoholic beverages. They were “thick as thieves” after they began drinking (Twain 174). All of these instances could be considered satirical, as they are simply not very realistic, and those who do use alcohol and tobacco are obviously supposed to be considered unproductive individuals, allowing the reader to negatively generalize Southerners.

Twain, Mark. //Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn//. New York: Modern Library, 2002. Print

Noah Connors Tristan Todd