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Hypocrisy In Huck Finn

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Recommended: Adventures of huckleberry finn literary analysis

The Adventurous Huckleberry Finn Hailed by (most) critics and language arts teachers alike, Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is a complex novel with several developed themes. What this book does bring to the table is a controversial literary device. “Backpedaling” which is the idea of deconstructing pre-existing ideas or character developments to highlight another. Full of intentional contradictions, Mark Twain uses his own hypocrisy and puts it into our protagonist, Huck to make him a realistic and, relatable character. This is done in several ways through the novel; It is done in the character’s moral development, within the setting itself with a variety of hypocritical ideologies, and in the oversimplification of characters …show more content…

With Huck’s outsider’s perspective Twain shows us hypocrisy in common society. Every time Huck (and by extension the reader) starts to agree with a particular ideology of a group of people, every time Twain starts to develop a theme (such as the importance of family or religion, brotherhood, community), Twain addresses the problems with such idealisms in his estimation. Take, for example, Chapter 17’s ‘the Grangerford and Shepherdson episode’. Huck come to be with a kind and rich family and does genuinely think about staying there for a while as they seem perfect and really show the importance of family to Huck… it was not meant to be. On a walk with a Grangerford, someone from the Sherpeson family… and the Grangerford attempts to shoot the Shepardson for no apparent reason. When Huck asks him why he did that the Grangerford explains a long-standing and bloody feud between the two families, the purpose of which no one can remember. Disgusted Huck stays with them a few more days and eventually attends church with them where a sermon about brotherly love and kindness is given and the Grangerfords love it…. But instead of applying this to their lives they continue to try to kill the Grangerfords soon after. This is among the biggest ways in which Twain backpedals his themes. We were shown the themes of family and of brotherhood and what not, but then we’re shown the complete opposite as it adds realism as well as contradictions, with

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Actions of the judge early in the novel blatantly show prominent hypocrisy. Huck’s father is an uneducated alcoholic, who abuses his son frequently. Pap does not appear in Huck’s life again until he discovers news of Huck’s newfound fortune, exhibiting the irony of only showing up in his child’s life when the kid has something he wants, which is the reverse ideal of a father. “‘That’s why I come. You git me that money to-morrow - I want it,’” (30) explains patently that he is an inadequate father, from his poor morals.

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When one reads The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain, themes involving morality and conscience become heavily prevalent. The protagonist, Huckleberry Finn, portrays a manifest dynamic character. His actions and statements ranging from the outset of the novel through its ending show Huck’s development of a more concise sense of morality and conscience prevailing over the societal influences of “right and wrong”. In the nineteenth century American South, the inescapable system of slavery and social hierarchy would have discouraged an interracial bond. Yet Huck, while escaping his abusive father, chooses to befriend Jim, the runaway slave whom he encounters, and shares a pivotal stage in his life with his newfound companion, whereby contradicting

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Thought out a person's childhood, they experience events that transform them to become who they are later in the life. People have to deal with the decision of what right and what's wrong. At a young age, Huck chooses to run away from his home because he was raised by a father who was an alcoholic and means towards Huck. He really did not care for him. Huck knows this is wrong, but does it anyway, he decides to help a slave name Jim escape and try to help him reunite with his family again, by doing this he knows he is going to get in trouble if he gets caught.

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Twain does his best to deal with the conflict between society and the individual. Huck does not want to abide by society’s laws and does not want to conform in Mark Twain’s, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Huck is forced to be civilized in the beginning, so he leaves society for freedom and lives by his own rules but even that does not make Huck’s life easy. Huck has trouble obeying society’s rules from the start of the book. The Widow Douglas takes Huck in to try to sivilize him says Huck in the quote, “The Widow Douglas she took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me”(Twain 2).

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The most significant example of religious hypocrisy is the satirical idea of how a Christian believer owns slaves. Ms. Watson is a committed believer of Christianity, a prevalent irony in the idea that she owns slaves, as Christians believe that God provided all with equality and freedom. Ms. Watson not only owns slaves but she treats them with poorly, as said by Jim, “‘Ole missus—dat's Miss Watson—she pecks on me all de time, en treats me poorty rough” (111). Jim, Ms. Watson’s slave, tells Huck of the rough treatment he receives from Ms. Watson. Widow Douglas, Ms. Watson’s sister, tells Huck the story of Moses from the Bible.

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Throughout the rest of Huck 's journey he continues to meet people along the way that believe themselves to be good civilized people but they all contradict that in some way. The Grangerford 's are in a murdering feud with another family, the Phelps own slaves and are trying to get a reward for Jim, the townspeople that feather and tar the Duke and King without a trial, the execution of Boggs, even the Widow tells Huck not to smoke but takes snuff herself. Huck spends a large amount of time in the book pondering over how to be good and do the right things, and at the end of the book when he decides to go West and leave it all behind he has finally realized that he 's not the one that 's bad, society is. Huck heads back out into the world not for more adventure, but to get away from

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Morality is defined as the principles for which people treat one another, respect for justice, and the welfare and rights of others. Moral development is gained from major experiences that can change viewpoints on life or cause people to make a difficult choice in a tough situation. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, one of Mark Twain’s major themes evident in the book is the moral development of Huck FInn, the main character. In the beginning of the book, Huck’s lack of morals and uncultured personality is a product of living with his abusive, demoralized father.

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Hypocricy and Blind Faith Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn took place in the eighteen hundreds when religion and reputation were dominant in peoples everyday lives. It was very rare for someone to believe something different than everyone else. In Twain 's novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Tom Sawyer and Huck appear to be very different, but their actions, descriptions, and dialogue bring them together to symbolize society in order to show the blind conformity and hypocrisy that humans often display.

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Huckleberry Finn is a story about a rambunctious young boy who adventures off down the Mississippi River. “The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain demonstrates a situation where a Huck tries to find the balance between what is right and what is wrong. Huck faces many challenges in which his maturity will play a part in making the correct decision for himself and his friend Jim. Huck becomes more mature by the end of the novel by showing that he can make the correct decisions to lead Jim to the freedom he deserves. One major factor where Huck matures throughout the novel is through his experience.

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Even though no one is aware how the conflict began, several males from both lines of the family have passed away throughout the years. Ironically, the conflict has taken over the Grangerfords' lives to the point where they now bring guns to church. This shows Mark Twain’s conflict between Huck and regional setting because this narrative clearly made the point that having high intelligence and riches doesn't automatically correlate to having superior moral and spiritual character. Hence this gave Huck a different perspective even though he chose thoughts for himself other than just follows what the majority is

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Twain uses Satire when Aunt Sally said, "its lucky; because sometimes people do get hurt" when Huck clearly told Aunt Sally that it "killed a nigger". Twain uses this to poke fun of social hypocrisy during the Pre-Civil War era. During that time, one would be considered a good white person if they attend church and when they take care of their family and other people. Aunt Sally represents the good and common people during this time era, as she consider African Americans more of a property than a human being. Twain uses Aunt Sally to show the reader that social hypocrisy was something that is idiotic and it also revealed to the readers the corrupt society Huck Finn lives

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To begin, Twain targets Huckleberry Finn's innocence and uses it as a way to show that anyone being raised in a racist, pro-slavery America was conflicted between morals and laws. At first, Huck is a "rebel" in his own mind, so to say, and tries to avoid becoming "sivilized" from the Widow Douglas. He sticks to what he knows, and uses his experience with people and his own judgment to make decisions like an adult, something quite

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680 Words | 3 Pages

Through Huck’s moral regression as well as his failure to recognize more than just Jim as his equal, the final chapters are inconsistent with the novel’s overall goal to satirize racism. Huck’s failure to continue his moral growth and undermines the earlier message that Twain conveys through satire. An integral part of Huck’s morality is his integrity and refusal to tell needless lies, and to “do whichever come handiest” (Twain 69). Twain has Huck go against convention and lie to protect Jim, demonstrating the power of Huck’s morality over societal racism.

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In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the reader gauges morality through the misadventures of Huck and Jim. Notably, Huck morally matures as his perspective on society evolves into a spectrum of right and wrong. Though he is still a child, his growth yields the previous notions of immaturity and innocence. Likewise, Mark Twain emphasizes compelling matters and issues in society, such as religion, racism, and greed. During the span of Huck’s journey, he evolves morally and ethically through his critique of societal normalities.

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trying to run away from all of his problems and in the process runs into an escaped slave, Jim. Instead of turning Jim in, Huck helps him on his journey to the north. During the book Huck grows from a immature boy to a more respectable young man. Huck begins to see how different people can be. Throughout the story Huck grows as a character and that is because of the people he meets along the way.

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