Huck Finn 3

            In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, there are many satirical references.  Most of them are out dated accept, for the allusion to the famous Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet.  Along with the reference to the play, there are also elements of sadness and humor to the section of the book with the Grangerfords’.  When Huck first comes onto Grangerfords land he is immediately questioned about being or knowing the Shepherdsons.  “Now, George Jackson, do you know the Shepherdsons’ (Twain 99).  When Huck is confirmed to not be involved with this family he is treated normal and is even told to stay as long as he would like.  Twain starts to add in the humor of how the two families are always trying to kill each other for no reason.  “‘What did he do to you?’ ‘Him? He never done nothing to me.’  ‘Well, then, what did you want to kill him for?’  ‘Why, nothing—only it’s on account of the feud’” (109).  These two families hate each other and have taught their own kids to hate each other for a reason they can not even say, because they do not know.  Although this is humorous it also is sad that they go on hating each other.

            Along with the humor of the Grangerfords’ there is also the element of sadness and remorse.  One of Buck’s sisters Emmeline, dies at a young age and it hits the family hard.  She was very talented with poetry involving death as among her characteristics.  “If Emmeline Grangerford could make poetry like that before she was fourteen, there aint no telling what she could ‘a’ done by and by” (105).  Emmeline is one of those people who had so much potential, but their life was cut short.  The Grangerfords also keep her room in perfect condition.  “They kept Emmeline’s room trim and nice, and all the things fixed in it just the way she like to have them when she was alive, and nobody ever slept there” (106).  The family can not get over this loss and takes the time to make sure her room is flawless still.

            The biggest allusion with this section of the book is the one of the relation to Romeo and Juliet.  The feud between the two families in the book is a parallelism to the Montagues and the  Caplulets, but the love affair between Sophia Grangerford and Harney Shepherdson is another very evident correlation to the Shakespeare play.  “…Run of to get married to dat young Harney Shepherdson…” (114).  These to two young lovers are going against their families ways exactly how Romeo and Juliet did.  When Buck and another family member from the Shepherdson dies because of the feud, it adds another element of the allusion.  These families are so busy fighting, that they both suffer a loss of their own.  This also brings a main them of what is moral in the novel.  Twain adds these references to make the book more interesting and teach lessons along the way.