The use of satiric humor in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn illustrates the mere innocence and absurdity of the novel's characters while at the same time mirroring the hypocrisy and corruptness of southern society in America during that time. Pap's view of the government, the Duke and the King's triumphant scams, and Tom's wildly gratuitous methods for Jim's escape are all instances in which Twain's underlying message is veiled with witty humor.

Twain uses Huck's father, Pap, to mock the government. Pap, an uneducated alcoholic, exclaims repeatedly, "Call this a govment!" (Twain 34). He justifies his insults toward the government by claiming how absolutely horrifying it is for free blacks to hold professional jobs in America. The reader is amused by drunken Pap's view on the government because Pap, himself, states ."..and I was just about to go and vote myself if I warn't too drunk to...