Examples Of Huckleberry Finn Society's Flaws

Ted Harter

January 5, 2016

English 10

Hour 6

Society’s Flaws Revealed In Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a young man and an escaped slave travel down the Mississippi River, experiencing great friendship and many adventures along the way. However, the people from ‘sivilization’ that they meet along the way keep intruding on their journey, bringing danger to Huck and Jim, and highlighting society’s flaws. When it was released, the book was very controversial because of its coarseness, Twain’s use of racial slurs, and how the story illustrates the hypocrisy of American society, all elements of Twain’s writing style called Realism. Americans did not like the depiction of a white boy helping a slave escape slavery, and

Mark Twain exposes a flawed society by describing in detail the racism of the time. Many of Twain’s characters open display their racism in what they say and how they say it, exposing the racism in American society in the late 1800s. When Pap is drunk and yelling about an African American that was allowed to vote, he exclaims “Thinks I, what is the country a coming to? It was ‘lection day, and I was just about to go and vote myself if I warn’t too drunk to get there; but then when they told me there was a state in this country where they’d let that nigger vote, I drawed out. I say I’ll never vote ag’in” (Twain 27). Pap believes that just because a person is black, he shouldn’t be able to vote, even though the man is free. This quote is especially revealing because

Religious beliefs and practices are an important part of society in the story’s time period, and Twain uses religion to highlight society’s immorality. When Huck is staying with the Grangerfords, he learns about their feud with the Shepherdsons. Buck tells Huck that they have been fighting and killing each other for years. Huck then describes, “Next Sunday we all went to church […]. The men took their guns along, so did Buck, and kept them between their knees or stood them handy against the wall. The Shepherdsons done the same.” (109). This account illustrates several deeply flawed but widespread religious practices in society. It is crazy that two families who have long fought and murdered each other go to the same church together, obviously understanding little of the lessons in the weekly sermons. In fact, the sermon about brotherly love is completely lost on both families that are involved in a feud that no one even remembers how it started. Twain highlights the absurdity of these characters’ religious beliefs further with the picture of guns stacked in the corner of the church, which is bizarre. Church is a place for to receive forgiveness of your sins, but the Grangerfords and Sheperdsons take guns for protection against each other, failing to see the absurdity of their behavior. Twain is criticizing society by depicting the