Religion, Education, Slavery

Here's a nice list of quotes about race and slavery in Huckleberry Finn. There are also short thoughts about these quotes; you might find it helpful to go through and see if any are satirical:

http://www.shmoop.com/quote/literatu...finn/race.html

As for education, just look at the character of Miss Watson in the first few chapters. The way she goes on about getting Huck a good education is ridiculous.

Also, look at Tom Sawyer. Huck looks up to Tom as one who has more experience (or is, in a sense, more educated) than him. But look at all the hoops Tom makes Huck jump through to free Jim. It's obvious all his learning hasn't taught him much about the horrors of slavery because he doesn't take Jim's plight seriously. It's all a game to him. I think that's one of the dangers of education, especially education in literature; it opens up this world of fantasy and romance and some people (like Tom and Don Quixote also jumps to mind) can't distinguish fantasy from reality, which has terrible consequences in the real world. Here's a short character analysis on Tom in Huck Finn:

http://www.shmoop.com/character/lite...om-sawyer.html

Hope that helps!