Hypocrisy and Society in Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn follows a young boy who lives in a society based on ridiculous and inhuman rules and traditions. As the main character, Huckleberry Finn, travels down the Mississippi River trying to escape Ms. Watson’s attempts to civilize him, he is exposed to the darker sides of society. Huck repeatedly encounters a wrong sense of justice that is the main problem of society: terrible acts, like owning slaves go unpunished, yet thoughtless crimes, such as drunkenly offending someone, lead to executions. Though the book, Twain implies that society is marked by cowardice, unreasonableness and hypocrisy.
While living with the Widow, Huck is obliged to wear shoes, read the Bible and quit smoking. Huck notices some incompatibilities in the widow’s actions and her rules, “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, and I must try to not do it any more. Here she was a-bothering about Moses, which was no kin to her, and no use to anybody, being gone, you see, 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 done it herself” (Twain, 4). The quote conveys an epitome of hypocrisy. When Huck asked the Widow if he could smoke, she didn’t allow him to. She claimed that smoking is a disgusting habit; however, the Widow allows herself to smoke. She states that it was alright for her to do so since she has “done it herself”, giving the idea that she believes she is much superior and if she’s done it before, then it’s not a big deal as she is a religious and respected woman. The hypocrisy is shown when the Widow holds a moral standard for Huck not to smoke, but it is acceptable when she does it herself. Further in the chapter, a judge grants custody of Huck to his abusive, drunk father, Pap. The Judge claims that Pap has a legal right to custody of Huck, yet, Pap proves himself to be a careless guardian by keeping Huck from going to school, beating his son and keeping him in an isolated cabin. Twain writes, “He kept me with him all the time, and I never got a chance to run off.We lived in that old Cabin, and he always locked the door and put the key under his head, nights […] Two months or more and my clothes go to be all rags and dirt […] Once he locked me in and was gonna three days. It was a dreadful lonesome. I judged he had got drowned and I wasn’t ever going to get out anymore. I was scared” (Twain, 23-24). Hucks abuse at the hands of Pap is compared to a more gash problem in society, namely the enslavement of black people. Huck realizes that slavery is an inhuman act that no one who is truly civilized should be founded on.
Further in the book, Huck encounters two aristocratic Southern families that have a feud: the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons. “Col. Grangerford was a gentleman, you see,” (Twain, 97), Huck narrates; yet, Buck Grangerford greets by trying to shoot him. These “civilized” people have a blood feud going that costs Buck his life. Huck is so traumatized that he hides in a tree, uncomprehending of how such “civilized” people could be so murderous. Huck sees Mr Grangerford as a gentleman, kind and beloved man. However, Huck observes that many slaves serve the Grangerford family, each Grangerford being tended by one slave. “Each person had their own ni**er to wait on them – Buck too. My ni**er had a monstrous easy time, because I warn’t used to having anybody do anything for me, but Buck’s was on the jump most of the time.This was all there was of the family now, but there used to be more – three sons; they got killed; and Emmeline that died. The old gentleman owned a lot of farms and over a hundred ni**ers” (Twain, 98). Just as the Grangerford-Shepherdson feud is hypocritical, so too is it hypocritical that a person as cultivated and seemingly good as Mr. Grangerford should have the means of his family’s cultivation built on slave labor.
Moreover, two characters, Boggs and Sherburn are introduced. Boggs is the town drunk, and though he’s proved himself to be belligerent, everyone in the town believes he is harmless. A parallel to Pap, Huck’s father, who in the beginning of the book gets custody regardless of his actions. As one of the townspeople says, “He don’t mean nothing; he’s always a-carryin’ on like that when he’s drunk. He’s the best naturedest old fool in Arkansaw—never hurt nobody, drunk nor sober” (21.40). Boggs decides to make fun of Sherburn in front of the entire town. Sherburn doesn’t entertain Boggs’ drunken lectures, and ends up shooting Boggs dead. The bystanders are amazed by a strange man who enacts the scene of the shooting; they buy him drinks and clap as the man entertains them. Later, the townspeople form a mob and migrate over to Sherburn’s house, in an attempt to lynch him. Sherburn calmly faces them, and through his speech, Twain’s commentary of society is delivered, “The idea of you lynching anybody! It’s amusing. The idea of you thinking you had pluck enough to lynch a man! Because you’re brave enough to tar and feather poor friendless cast-out women that come along here, did that make you think you had grit enough to lay your hands on a man? Why, a man’s safe in the hands of ten thousand of your kind—as long as it’s daytime and you’re not behind him. “Do I know you? I know you clear through was born and raised in the South, and I’ve lived in the North; so I know the average all around. The average man’s a coward. In the North he lets anybody walk over him that wants to, and goes home and prays for a humble spirit to bear it. In the South one man all by himself, has stopped a stage full of men in the daytime, and robbed the lot. Your newspapers call you a brave people so much that you think you are braver than any other people—whereas you’re just AS brave, and no braver. Why don’t your juries hang murderers? Because they’re afraid the man’s friends will shoot them in the back, in the dark—and it’s just what they WOULD do” (Twain, 133-134). Sherburn calls the mob out on their hypocrisy, giving an explanation for their sense of empowerment as a group. This is the most persuasive analysis of society, as they care so much for a petty crimes such as Boggs’ murder; yet, they refuse to pay attention to much greater issues such as the enslavement of African Americans.
Mark Twain makes his opinions on hypocrisy very clear. He includes many examples of hypocrisy, from racial to religious, used to criticize how people in general, are in fact, hypocrites. By doing this, he hopes to make our problem of hypocrisy apparent, so that we may take notice of it and attempt to change it. Throughout the novel, Mark Twain portrays the religious views and beliefs of Christian Southerners. These beliefs typically associate with the view of all men are equal. The hypocrisy in this is the fact that these “Christians” felt as if it was allowable to own slaves. Twain shows religious hypocrisy by pointing out the fact that the Christians did not treat the blacks equal to the whites despite their beliefs. While the religion expresses that all men are equal, they still treated black differently during the time of slavery.