Mark Twain seems to be more forgiving towards characters who have used necessary deception than the ones who have acted, in some way, hypocritical. Though hypocrisy and deception are both looked at as pessimistic actions in our society, Twain points out that sometimes lying or bending the truth is necessary in some cases. In a perfect world there would be no need for anyone to bend the truth, but this isn't a perfect world and Twain knows it. There is greed, selfishness, and no telling who can be trusted. Since there are such people in the world, Twain seems to find that deception, or the process of misleading others, is necessary at times for people have the potential of doing selfish and greed driven things, like Huck's father. He's an abusive drunk who almost murdered his own son, so to escape him, Huck had to deceive his …show more content…
If Twain thought differently, he had the power to have the plan go terribly wrong, but it didn't and Huck escaped his father. Huck also deceived Mrs. Judith Loftus, by pretending to be a girl. This act hit a few bumps in the road, but because Mrs. Loftus seemed to have a greedy side to her, wanting the reward money for Jims capture, so, in the end Huck managed to avoid trouble and squeeze himself out of the situation. Hypocrisy on the other hand is a little different from deception. Hypocrisy is when someone believes in something; a moral or a certain way of living but does not apply the belief to their own lives. In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, there are many examples of hypocrisy and one of them these hypocrites' happens to be Huck's father. After crying and promising the new judger that he was going " to turn over a new leaf" and make something out of himself other than a drunkard, Huck's father, only a few hours after his promise, sets out for a night at the bar, going back against his words of wanting to "be a man nobody wouldn't be ashamed
Arguably the most prevalent and obvious types of hypocrisy found in Huck Finn is racism. During the time when the book was set (1845), slavery was a common practice, especially in the south. In fact, many characters in the book owned slaves (Miss Watson, the Grangerfords, the Wilks’, the Phelps). Black people were made out to be inferior to whites, which made it easier to justify such a gruesome system. Even Huck, whom Jim called his “best friend”, believed this lie. He said, “It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and humble myself to a nigger,” (42). He even debated his conscience about whether or not he should turn Jim in, seeing as though he was technically the property of Miss Watson. “Here was this nigger which I had as good as helped
Huckleberry Finn is a liar throughout the whole novel but unlike other characters, his lies seem justified and moral to the reader because they are meant to protect himself and Jim and are not meant to hurt anybody.
Throughout the novel, Twain shows his contempt for corrupt human nature. Although these instances are often satirized and exaggerated, the message is still the same. For instance, when the King and the Duke first start to lie about being the dead Peter Wilks’ brothers to obtain his money, Huck says, “It was enough to make a body ashamed of the human race,” (191). In this instance Twain is utilizing Huck to show his aversion to the way people lie and cheat, and how a couple of people can make a bad name for all of us. Another example is when Jim sells the King and Duke out to the townspeople and they are carried on a pole, tarred and feathered. Although Huck, has tried to escape the King and Dukes several occasions and has witnessed the cruelties put on others and lies they tell, he does not think that they deserve similar treatment. In fact, he says, “Human beings can be awful cruel to one another,” (269). Through Huck, Twain is voicing his opposition to how people treat one another, whether they deserve it or not. Thus Twain is using his novel to voice his enmity for the cruelty in human nature.
In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain, we are introduced to Huck a boy of about 13 years of age. From a young age Huck grows up in the absence of both his parents. However, Huck is raised by two women who take him in as family, the Widow Douglas and her sister Miss Watson, who make it their goal to “sivilize” (Twain 1) Huck. In the plot of this novel we learn that Huck is beaten repeatedly, and even kidnapped by his overbearing and critical father, Pap. We also learn that Pap, because he is always drunk, is an intimidating figure in Huck's life. Twain also writes about a character named Jim; Jim was Miss Watson's slave, freed after her death. Throughout the novel, Twain creates a strong friendship between Huck
Morality is most often defined as “the principles concerning a distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behavior.” A choice will always be made that defines a character and their moral integrity. In Mark Twain’s novel, “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, Huck encounters a frequent amount of circumstances where he or other characters are put into situations in which morality is called into question. This proves that regardless of religious influences and social expectations, it is through Huck to do what is morally right, he must challenge the moral teaching of his world and society. Through his observation, Huck makes some poor choices that may be against his moral teachings. The society
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 multiple studies of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, many critics have closely examined Huck Finn’s struggles to conform to society’s expectation because he becomes conflicted between his true ideals and the ideals society has forced upon him. According to Johnson, "Huck has his own flaws: He rarely tells the truth, he steals, and he is gullible, particularly when it comes to superstition. But when faced with a dire situation, Huck usually does the right thing” (75). Although Huck repeatedly finds himself to be conflicted with Southern ideals at the end of the novel, Huck finally decides to follow his own beliefs. Davis states that, “Through Huck 's innocent descriptions of white misbehavior, Huckleberry Finn implicitly condemns not only individual white characters but also the culture that they represent. Huck rarely fully
In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, Huck matures during his journey on the Mississippi River, alongside his companion, Jim, a runaway slave. At the beginning of the novel, Twain, an ardent abolitionist, characterizes Huck as immoral and ignorant, to convey the racist lens through which whites saw blacks in the 1830s. When Huck escapes civilized society, he begins to form his own opinions, and his eyes open to different perspectives that allow him to develop and reach self-knowledge. As Huck’s character develops, it appears that his morality increases too, since he helps Jim run away, despite the consequences; however, in reality, it is only Huck’s respect for Jim that increases. Twain exemplifies this theme through
There are many different ways Huck shows morality throughout, but only a few of them are significant. For example when Huck gives the money to judge Thatcher so Huck can spend quality time with his dad and not have anything to do with money. When Huck tells Mary Jane the truth about who the Duke and the king actually are is a way Huck shows morality. When Huck was going to send a letter to Miss watson telling her about what happened to Jim and his whereabouts, but he tore up the note instead. If Huck would not have done any of these things than many things throughout his lifetime would have been different.
Throughout Huckleberry Finn, Huck sees countless people get taken for a fool and believe foolish things. Most obvious are the people that get taken in by the King and Duke, but even earlier in the book, Huck sees people believing untrue things. For instance, when Huck tells the watchman that he has a family that
Grangerfords are engaged in an age old blood feud against another family, the Shepherdsons. When Buck's older sister elopes with a member of the Shepherdson clan, the vendetta finally comes to a head. In the resulting conflict, Huck witnesses the horrific murder of all the Grangerford males from this branch of the family being shot and killed, including Buck. He is immensely relieved to be reunited with Jim, who has recovered and repaired the raft that got damaged earlier.
Huckleberry Finn is a liar throughout the whole novel but unlike other characters, his lies seem justified and moral to the reader because they are meant to protect himself and Jim and are not meant to hurt anybody.
That led to locking him up in the forest and Huck eventually escaped. This negative influence put the wrong ideas into Huck’s life that he thought were
Huck's Justified Lies. Everyone lies. Some people try to justify it by claiming that they are using their lies for good instead of evil. It's hard to know when lying is told for the better. Huck Finn, the main character in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, also faced this and deceived almost everyone in the novel.
Huck feels that Mary Jane is very nice and so he should not let the two frauds, the King and Duke, take all of their money. “I say to myself, this is a girl that i'm letting that old reptle rob her of her money”(132). Hucks believe it not right to let the two fraud take all the money from the girls and so he was deciding rather to go tell the truth to Mary and her sisters. Hucks feels bad for not saying anything and letting the King and the Duke take their money. “And when she got through, they all jest laid themselves out to make me feel at home and know I was amongst friends”(132). Huck made his mind up to get the money for the girls. Here, Twain thinks it is not right to not tell the truth and let someone go into trouble. Huck’s decision in telling Mary Jane the truth and to lie to the King and the Duke shows how Twain is saying it is not right to watch a person take advantage of someone. It showing that telling the truth is better than lying because not telling the truth can put a person in danger. Huck is thinking about whether he should tell Mary Jane because the truth because the truth is always better and safer than