Throughout ages society has been plagued with judgemental and assuming views. There have been many efforts to eradicate this detrimental nature of society by many illustrious authors such as Harper Lee, Jane Austen and S.E. Hinton. Another such such combattant of prejudices, in the Antebellum SOuth, is Mark Twain. He expresses this detrimental nature of society in his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Huckleberry Finn, a 13 year old boy, realizes the false prejudgements of society by aiding Jim, a runaway slave. He notices the skewed nature of society and how it contrasts the truth. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn various characters are judged based on preconceived notions rather than their actions and character.
While the Duke and the King appear as morally upstanding men to society, they are conmen. Huck sees their many scams throughout his journey and realized that they will do anything for self-preservation. He notices that they are “no kings nor dukes, at all, but just low down humbugs and frauds”(Twain 166).This contrasts their very own titles “Duke and King” which give off an aura of literacy and superiority. They exploit the belief that since they
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The contrast between characters in The Adventures of Huck Finn and their predetermined disposition underlines the critique of the assuming nature of society. The false assumption of the Duke and the King allowed them to swindle many people. Similarly the prejudgement of Pap completely ignored his behavior and enabled him to retain custody of a child. The prejudgement of Jim, on the other hand, degrades him to a barbarian although he has an extremely caring disposition. Such prejudgements are often rooted in prejudices of the majority in society rather than disposition. They are ignorant and unjust to those being targeted. As Harper Lee states in her novel To Kill a Mockingbird “Are you proud of yourself tonight that you have insulted a total stranger whose circumstances you know nothing