Huck Society

             More than a century ago, Mark Twain composed a piece of American literature that exposed human nature at its worst. In his novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain develops a plot interweaving with his criticism of society. The two main characters, Huck and Jim both run away from the "unfair" ways of society. Huck is viewed as an uneducated, trouble maker who is constantly under the pressure to convert to the "humanized" society. Jim is a slave, who is not even considered a real person but only as a piece of property. As they run away together from civilization and travel down the Mississippi river, they are faced with many flaws of society that we can still relate to today. Twain also uses extreme sarcasm and humor to flavor his criticism. The satire Twain uses deeply exposes hypocrisy, racism, and greed.
             Throughout the novel, we see hypocrisy as a major flaw of society. The first character we come across with this trait is the Widow Douglas. She is constantly on Huck's back and is always trying to correct Huck for his unacceptable behavior, but he never understands why. "Pretty soon I wanted to smoke, and asked the widow to let me. But she wouldn't. She said it was a mean practice and wasn't clean, and I must try to not do it any more" (12). The Widow Douglas clearly states that smoking is dirty but then Huck says, "And she took snuff too; of course that was all right because she done it herself " (12). The comments made by Huck clearly shows the Widow Douglas as a hypocrite. She scolds Huck for wanting to smoke but then does snuff herself. Another example of hypocrisy is when Huck encounters the Grangerfords and Sheperdsons. Twain uses sarcasm to describe Colonel Grangerford as, "...a gentleman, you see. He was a gentleman all over, and so was his family. He was well born, as the saying is, and that's worth as much in a man as it is in a horse...
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Huck Society. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 11:54, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/85740.html