Huckleberry Finn and Civilization Merriam Webster defines the act of being civilized as being brought “out of a savage, uneducated, or unrefined state,” (Webster) yet within The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck’s interactions with supposedly civilized society depicts civilization as both savage and hypocritical. Although the members of educated society perceive themselves to be sophisticated and refined, whereas the lowest class members are viewed as barbaric, Huck’s encounters with Miss Watson, the Shepherdsons, and Aunt Sally push him to reject their civilized notions since their beliefs depend heavily on material wealth and not what is right or wrong. In this sense, Huck pushes the ideals of society away with every encounter since …show more content…
The only time that they are civil with one another is on Sundays for church. Again this instance of Christian morals and contradictory behavior pushes Huck away from civilization since they are only at peace during church, but do not apply what is preached to their own lives. In this manner, they strive themselves on being good Christian people, but cannot see the wrongness of trying to kill one another. When Huck asks the youngest son Buck why he meant to kill the other son he replied “Him? He never done nothing to me” (127) but it was an account of tradition that continued the practice. The mirror of slavery and the Shepherdson feud reveals to Huck that just because something has been practiced for an extended period of time, and although many people may believe in it, it isn’t necessarily right. Moreover, Huck’s encounter with one of the wealthiest family shows him again that money does not equivalent to rightness. Both families continued on the destructive nature of the feud, making Huck wish that he “hadn’t ever come ashore that night, to see such things,” (134) and further illustrating their hypocritical actions and lack of moral