The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was written Mark Twain in 1884. Twain portrays the meaning of the work is that one has to be adequately smart to know what is right and wrong. Twain’s tone throughout the book is satirical and mocking, thus Twain uses satire to communicate his message. Twain uses Christian individuals to show religious hypocrisy in the American culture.
Twain demonstrates the insincerity of religion through the Widow Douglas. The Widow Douglas is portrayed as a woman who follows the Christian ‘rules’ but ironically has the lowest principles. Twain uses the Widow as an example because of her caustic actions. She exposes and forces onto Huck many rituals such as mealtime prayer which Huck doesn’t understand. He describes it as a moment when “you had to wait for the widow to tuck her head and grumble over the victuals” (2). In this sentence the Widow is depicted as a very religious woman and a devout Christian. However this comes across as sardonic when later it’s find out that she
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Huck remains unaffected and his decisions are unbiased unlike the adults around him. He is portrayed as having a peripheral existence neither civilized nor wild. This also enables him to provide an opinion and approach issue with an honest first-hand account. Huckleberry shows how religion is so easily swayed by an unjust society. His morals are tested when he’s trying to decide whether to turn in Jim or not. Huck had been raised to believe that he must turn in Jim yet his own feeling told him not to because Jim was still a human being despite what others thought. He decides that he’d rather “go to hell” (214). This sentence shows his rejection of the religion and society whose rules and morals citizens claimed to have. Ironically Huck defies his religious teachings, but does the most ‘Christly’