American writer, Mark Twain, in his satirical novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, depicts the religious flaws in American society during the 19th century. Aspects such as the morals, hypocrisy, and the principles people live by are constantly questioned and reflected upon by the voice of Huck. Twain utilizes irony, humor, and religious satire to convey how hypocritical, absurd, and comical religion was in society at the time, in hopes of encouraging people to change the way they practice religion. Twain begins his ridicule on religion in the first chapter when he describes the countless rituals Huck has to encounter in the Widow Douglas’ household, such as “[waiting] for the widow to tuck her head and grumble over the victuals, though there weren’t really nothing the matter with them.” Widow Douglas is also depicted as a devout Christian whose seriousness is …show more content…
Although they hold great hatred towards each other, they both attend the same church every Sunday. Despite being in a church, “men took their guns along,” and “kept them between their knees or stood them handy against the wall.” Throughout the service, the preacher spoke of “ brotherly love,” “good works and free grace.”, showing the humorous irony of these alleged rivals. Irony is further shown when the men all compliment how great the sermon was and all the good that went along with it. Then the following day a deadly fight breaks out, killing many members of both families. Like shown by the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson, they were considered devout Christians; however their actions reflected a double standard, in which Twain’s criticizes. By satirizing the rival families’ feud, he is able to reveal the actual way people practiced their religious principles and the change that must occur to fix the way people exercised