Analysis Of The Book ' The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn ' By Mark Twain Essay

The Grangerfords, who allow Huck to stay with them for as long as he would like, have been involved in a murderous feud with the Shepherdson family for decades, only halting their incessant fighting to attend church with one another on Sundays. Page 109 describes this, stating, “Next Sunday we all went to church...The men took their guns along and kept them between their knees or stood them handy against the wall. The Shepherdsons done the same. It was pretty ornery preaching-all about brotherly love...everybody said it was a good sermon.” Once more, Twain uses irony to highlight the hypocrisy of human beings, specifically of Christians, by describing how the rival families put their differences aside long enough to listen to a sermon on brotherly love, only to attempt to kill each other the very next day, undermining the message of the sermon. Through the implementation of irony, Twain succeeds at criticizing the hypocritical nature of many Christians and of the societies in which they live.

Huck’s feelings about living with the Widow Douglas and her sister, Miss Watson. Which of the ladies does he like more? Why? What does he feel about their attempts to “civilize” him?

Oppression has been a problem in this country, dating all the way back to the Europeans traveling to the New World, and forcing themselves on the Native’s and famously the British oppression of the thirteen colonies. Oppression is still a serious problem today, with almost all minorities, such as women, African-Americans, and the LGBT community feeling it’s pressure. Although these groups have gained seen many changes in their freedom, they are still being oppressed. Oppression is a common theme throughout American Literature, weaving in and out of many that are seen as classic American novels and poetry. Some of these books include Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the poetry of Langston Hughes, Richard Wright’s Native Son and Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. The form of oppression that is evident throughout all these works, is racial oppression, and narrowing it down even further, the oppression of African Americans.

This is commonly expressed through Huck’s narration of the novel mainly when referring to his feelings towards Jim. An example of this is when Huck says “All right, then, i’ll go-to hell” (268). He says this mainly because he thinks he is doing the wrong thing by ripping up the letter of which was going to be sent to Miss Watson, Jim’s lawful owner, disclosing Jim’s motive and location. At the time, turning Jim in would have been the right thing to do but in today’s day and age, it is completely obvious that Huck did the right thing. Another example of self conflict in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is when huck believes it is entirely ridiculous of Jim to want to get his family back no matter what, through means of either buying them out of slavery or stealing them from their owner. A quote of Huck expressing his feelings is shown when he says “It must froze me to hear such talk” (115). These inner feelings of Huck’s wear on not only his sense of judgement but his feelings towards his fellow friend, Jim. Jim realizes Huck’s feelings and soothes him over by saying things such as that Huck is the bestest friend old Jim ever had. These self conflicts just go to show how they changed Huck’s view throughout the

Michelle Tam Dec. 5, 2014 AP Eng 3rd Final Draft A Twain Ride Through The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn American author and humorist, Mark Twain, in his novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, addresses the issues of society. Twain’s purpose is to raise awareness of the hypocritical flaws in American culture during the Reconstruction Era in furtherance of improving society. He adopts a satirical tone through irony, juxtaposition, and sarcasm to expose the hypocrisies of Southern slave owners or supporters. Twain begins his novel by illustrating that the hypocritical actions of individuals creates a corrupt society through his use of irony.

What the Widow and Miss Watson do not do is explain to Huck why he is doing unnecessary chores and acting so properly. When Miss Watson would say things like "Don't put your feet up there, Huckleberry;" and “Why don't you behave", Huck’s young mind asks himself, ‘Why should I behave?’ All of the critiques of Huck’s behavior makes him think that if he stays with the Widow and Miss Watson he will always be failing. His attitude toward the goals that the two sisters have for Huck change with every order he receives and eventually the two “kept pecking at me, and it got tiresome and lonesome." At this point Huck’s sentiment towards living in their house moves to more of a prison like atmosphere and, “considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways; and so when I couldn’t stand it no longer, I lit out”. He realizes that he is being held against his will, only after he realizes how “regular” and boring the two women are. This is very telling of his character and the same mentality of an ‘against the grain’ lifestyle pushes Huck to question the people and environments around him. The freedom Huck realizes from the sisters’ house of “sivlized” teachings is not the type Huck looks for and his oppressive time with pap

Throughout the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn there are many social institutions Mark Twain has a laugh at. Twain brings a certain light to otherwise dark topics in American history. The novel uses satire to address mob mentality, religion, and family.

Because of his drunkard father, Huckleberry Finn lived his life with Widow Douglas and Miss Watson. Both women wanted Huck to act civilized, but he always went against their wishes. At one point, Miss Watson asked Huck, “----why don’t you try to behave?” (107) and explained to him about the concept of hell (107). Huck replied to Miss Watson’s lecture with, “I wished I was there” (107). Huck didn’t agree with their perspectives and found civilized society to be strict and harsh.

Natalie Myren Thesis: In Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck, the protagonist, is confronted with a multitude of moral choices that lead him to challenge the ‘sivilised’ morals and nature of his society. Huck’s attitude towards adult characters as they attempt to educate him demonstrates how Twain is critical of the superficiality and hypocrisy of adult moral standards within society. Twain uses Huck’s interactions with the Widow Douglas and Miss Watson to demonstrate how Huck is unable to independently develop as people that reflect society’s superficial standards influence Huck through the enforcement of their lifestyles upon him.

The assertion is supported with the example because Widow Douglas is trying to make Huck civilized and make him look proper. It is important because Widow Douglas is more severe and Huck is more laid back. Widow is representative of white society’s capricious rules that she uses them to make Huck a well proper, upright, and knowledgeable man.

First off, Huck concludes that the Widow Douglass’s interpretation can make a “body’s mouth water” (Twain 21). Even though Huck admits that he would prefer to belong to the Widow’s vision of heaven, he begins to see the moral emptiness that underlies the Widow’s faith. For example, when the Widow Douglass attempts to punish Huck for his “mean practice” (6) of smoking, he observes that she applies double standards. When the Widow uses snuff it is acceptable “because she done it herself” (6), but when Huck tries to smoke it is sinful. The faith’s hypocritical nature is also seen when the Widow urges Huck to “help other people” (21).

Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain's classic novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, tells the story of a teenaged misfit who finds himself floating on a raft down the Mississippi River with an escaping slave, Jim. In the course of their perilous journey, Huck and Jim meet adventure, danger, and a cast of characters who are sometimes menacing and often hilarious.

To fully understand the themes within Mark Twain’s novels we all must first understand his upbringing, where he was born, where he was raised, and what was going on within the era of his life. Samuel

Within the first chapter of the book, Twain exposes his point of hypocrisy by introducing the characters of the Watson Sisters, the two most prominent examples. The two sisters adopted Huck and have done their best to “sivilize” him so that he can fit into society by teaching him manners and readings of the Bible. When Huck wants to smoke and asks the widow if it was okay to do so, she responds saying, “It was a mean practice and wasn’t clean” and that Huck “must try not to do it any more.” (p.2) The widow does “snuff” (tobacco) herself since she chews, yet Huck is not allowed to smoke. Smoking snuff it is wrong, but chewing it is okay since the widow does it, therefore it is acceptable. On a related topic, Miss Watson preaches to Huck to “help other people” and do “everything he can do for other people”, yet she herself owned slaves. Huck says, “They fetched the niggers in and had prayers, and then everybody was off to bed” (p.3), exposing that Miss Watson owned slaves. If Miss Watson really wanted to practice what she preached, then she wouldn’t own people. Both Miss Watson and the Widow Douglas’s preachings to Huck come from their

The emphasis of hypocrisy in the novel manifests within the first chapter when the inherent hypocrisy of the Widow Douglass becomes apparent and through logos Huck unveiling the righteous mask that Miss Watson hides her hypocrisy in to the reader, by stating “Pretty soon I wanted to smoke, and asked the widow to let me. But she wouldn’t. She said it was a mean practice and wasn’t clean…They get down on a thing when they don’t know nothing about it. Here she was a-bothering about Moses, which was no kin to her, and no use to anybody…yet finding a power of fault with me for doing a thing that had some good in it. And she took snuff, too; of course that was all right, because she has done it herself.” (Pg. 2) The quotation very much explicates the hypocrisy Huck sees in the Widow Douglass chewing tobacco and not allowing him to smoke, the logic being they both utilize the same product, yet smoking is “dirty” and impure, but chewing tobacco somehow isn’t. This sentiment from the Widow Douglass displays how the Widow Douglass views herself as righteous (further seen in her reference to Moses), when in fact, she, by her own standards, suffers from the same contamination of impurity that she claims Huck accumulates by