The Satire of

The Grangerfords vs. The Shepherdsons

Hypocrisy, incongruity.

Usage:

Mark Twain uses incongruity when writing about the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons, two rich and fancy families covering themselves in blood and grime for little to no reason and unwilling to talk to each other. These families are also heavily Christian, making it even more ironic and creating hypocrisy.

Desired Outcome:

Twain made fun of religion, the rich, and pointless violence through his satire. Some people just use religion to look good, or some people really believe in it but just do the complete opposite without a second thought. It's all right though because they can just say sorry and be forgiven, right? Yes, according to them. It pokes fun at the rich in the sense that they don't act as fancy as they look. Everybody can look however they want, but at the core, everybody is still a human, and some less than others.

The change that Twain hoped for was likely for people to see through the facade of others, and if you're going to invoke violence, at least have a reason to. That is definitely something he would've said.