Consideration on Religious Hypocrisy and Morals in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Although The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an exciting and seemingly light-hearted story, Mark Twain wrote the book to expose the systemic flaws in antebellum American society. One of its major themes is hypocrisy. Twain used a satirical approach to uncover the racial and religious hypocrisy of the South.

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain provided social commentary on southern society and beliefs. Twain addressed a number of significant issues throughout the novel, including religion and slavery. There are a number of instances where Huck, the 14 year-old protagonist, pushes back against the idea of organized religion. Similarly, Huck encounters a personal and moral dilemma when it comes to the practice of slavery. This idea of rebellion against society is a major concept explored in the book. Small instances of Huck’s rebellion culminate with him eventually freeing a runaway slave. The main examples include Huck’s refusal to learn the Bible, Huck’s decision against not to turn Jim in, and Tom and Huck’s choice to set Jim free at the end of the story. Huck’s refusal to conform to and demonstrate the social norms of the South illustrate the theme of rebellion against society.

Along the path of self-discovery, challenges constantly present themselves as opportunities to grow intellectually and as a chance to succeed. Often times, the use of personal judgment and self-understanding is necessary in order to overcome these challenges. In Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck experiences difficulties which compel him to use his moral judgment. Huck, a young boy in search of freedom, is accompanied by a runaway slave named Jim as he embarks on a treacherous journey down the Mississippi River. During his adventure, Huck must determine the fate of the runaway slave. However, as his relationship with the slave deepens, he comes to realize this task is far from simple. Huck faces this life-defining yet

In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Jim, a runaway slave, faces many obstacles in his journey to freedom. Huck Finn, a teenage boy and friend of JIm, is also facing difficulty with whether or not he should be helping Jim escape slavery. Many characters throughout the novel struggle to deal with conflicts. A conflict that people in today’s world are struggling to deal with, is the controversy over whether Huckleberry Finn is a racist novel or not. All-in-all, Huckleberry Finn is profoundly antislavery. Twain creates Him as a man who is brave and heroic. Twain also demonstrates that the blacks and whites relationship is not the only concern over racism, and reveals the voice of a slave attempting to survive in a white slave culture.

In the appropriately titled novel, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", by author, Mark Twain, a young boy, named, Huckleberry Finn's life is completely changed. The story is basically that, Huck is sent to live with his strict relatives that try to conform him into someone he isn't, but, sequentially ends up traveling down the Mississippi River, with an escaped slave, Jim. As the novel progresses, Jim and Huck develop an extremely close friendship, which makes him change his views on slavery. Despite numerous chances, Huck never turns Jim in, because of his new outlook on slavery. Although slavery is a main theme in the book, it is not the only one. Because, author, Mark Twain creates a social critique by juxtaposing the

Mark Twain once described his novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, as “a struggle between a sound mind and a deformed conscience”. Throughout the novel, Huck wrestles with the disparity between his own developing morality and the twisted conscience of his society. In doing so, he becomes further distanced from society, both physically and mentally, eventually abandoning it in order to journey to the western frontier. By presenting the disgust of Huck, an outsider, at the state of society, Mark Twain is effectively able to critique the intolerance and hypocrisy of the Southern South. In doing so, Twain asserts that in order to exist as a truly moral being, one must escape from the chains of a diseased society.

In Maria Byrd’s second letter to her son she specifies the churches recent worship schedule: “Mr. Thomas Davis preached at our church on Sunday last & is to give us a sermon again Thursday & has published giving the Sacrament this month.” (Tinling 1977, 689). Mrs. Byrd also notes the church’s attempt to book attract other pastors to preach to the congregation. It is important to note that in spite of the new responsibilities taken by parishes, worship of the assembly was maintained as the primary function of the

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is considered one of the most influential works in American literature. During the novel, two characters, Huckleberry Finn and Jim, run away from civilization to pursue adventure. Both characters come from humble roots; Huck Finn is a juvenile delinquent, and Jim, a runaway slave. Throughout their journey, Jim serves as a mentor and a friend to Huck. Together, the two brave the lawless environment of the early 19th-century South. As the story progresses, Huck matures from a delinquent child into a young man with a set of morals. In the essay “The Role of Jim in Huckleberry Finn,” Frances Brownell asserts that Jim is the key to Huck’s character development and moral growth. Brownell’s argument

The theme of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn is that the ideas of society can greatly influence the individual, and sometimes the individual must break off from the accepted values of society to determine the ultimate truth for himself. In Huckleberry Finn's world, society has corrupted justice and morality to fit the needs of the people of the nation at that time. Basically, Americans were justifying slavery, through whatever social or religious ways that they deemed necessary during this time.

Mark Twain’s classic novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn took place during a tense period in U.S. history. Heated debate over the morality of slavery had sparked and deep divisions were emerging between the northern and southern states. Born in Missouri, a slave state, the novel’s protagonist Huckleberry Finn was raised on values of racism and prejudice. He adhered to these principles as they were all he knew. However, over the course of his journey, Huck’s formerly provincial morality was challenged by his real-world experiences, and he was forced to derive a new set of morals for himself. At the start of the novel, a blind acceptance of slavery was present in Huck’s mind. This was revealed when Huck thought, in reference to Jim’s plan to free his children, “Here was this nigger, which I had as good as helped to run away, coming right out flat-footed and saying he would steal his children – children that belonged to a man I didn’t even know; a man that hadn’t ever done me no harm” (137). Although grateful for Jim’s companionship and reluctant to report him to the authorities, Huck still believed slavery to be a moral practice. As evidenced by this thought process, Huck held on to the values of the slave-owning states in the south, believing that Jim’s children, as slaves, were property. He even felt remorseful at the thought of a man’s slaves being stolen. Regardless of his budding friendship with Jim, Huck was still concretely in favor of slavery. This static view on

A major theme of the novel is the hypocrisy and double standards that are evident in the society surrounding Huck. This trait is found especially within Christian and religious types in the novel. Twain shows almost every good Christian in the novel as having a generous and kind side, which completely contradicts much of their actions. Twain believes that this hypocrisy is the underlining element that makes religion skeptical. As it is seen in the book, almost every good Christian contradicts himself or herself in some way. Perhaps Huck's first example of this was when the Widow Douglas did not allow him to smoke, as it was a mean practice. However, “she took snuff too; of course that was all right, because she done it herself” (Twain 2). Another example was the Grangerfords. Huck described this family as very nice and kind and even considered Buck a good friend. But once again, the hypocrisy of religious types was bound to come into play. These same people are slave owners and have a feud with a similar family, the Shepherdsons for reasons they don't remember. Perhaps the biggest example of this hypocrisy was when Huck went to church with the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons. As Huck explains, “the men took their guns along, so did Buck, and kept them between their knees.... it was pretty ornery preaching all about brotherly love” (Twain 83). It is obvious that the two families had their guns in their laps while the preacher talked about

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Huck Finn) by Mark Twain is a renown piece of literature both for its usage of language and the historical aspects that are heavily embedded in the storyline. Historically, society has looked at itself, each other, and events differently throughout the years. The slavery in the United States that is so heavily involved in Huck Finn was socially acceptable during the period of the book is no longer socially acceptable; both when Twain is writing Huck Finn and in the present time. What society finds acceptable can set the precedent of what is morally acceptable and this affects how Huckleberry Finn views some of the decisions he makes throughout the book. Huck struggles to understand the world he has grown up in and its moral ideas of how people should be treated. Society of the 1830s was a judgemental one due to the different social statuses and judgments people received from society. Huck Finn is a young boy who

Mid-nineteenth century southern America, the writer asserts the churches in America are failing mankind by not being inclusive rather than exclusive and turning a blind-eye to the topic. Failing to live up to the core tenants of Christianity are things that erode the church and society alike. He also recalls his personal experiences with his grandfather, who was a minister, and his uncle. How his uncle had the job of being the caretaker of

Twain uses Huck to make decisions based on this hypocritical slave-owning, Christian lifestyle. Huck must choose to either aid a runaway slave named Jim or return him to Miss Watson, while the white society of the South would expect Huck to return Jim to Miss Watson. Huck and Jim 's friendship makes this a significant decision because Huck is morally conflicted. Jim is his friend, but he is also the property of Miss Watson. An excerpt from Magill 's Survey of American Literature puts the situation in a right perspective exclaiming “Jim is property before he is man, and Huck is deeply troubled, surprisingly, by the thought that he is going to help Jim, not only because he sees it, in part, as a robbery, but more interestingly, because he sees his cooperation as a betrayal of his obligation to the

In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain presents the problem of slavery in America in the 19th Century. Twain poses this problem in the form of a character named Huckleberry Finn, a white boy raised in the antebellum South. Huck starts to question his view regarding slavery when he acquaints himself more intimately with a runaway slave while he himself tries to run away. Huck’s development as a character is affected by society’s influence on his experiences while growing up in the South, running away with Jim, and trying to save Jim. Although Huck decides to free Jim, Huck’s deformed conscience convinces him that he is doing the wrong thing.