Hypocrisy In Huckleberry Finn

Words: 865
Pages: 4
Open Document
Religion is considered a lifestyle for its followers, believing solely in its validity and disregarding reality. Beliefs based upon religion have been the root for numerous conflicts in the past, making excuses for lack of morality. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn religion is often satirized to show it’s irrational views. Huckleberry Finn, the protagonist, is brought up in a household strictly following preachings, yet is skeptical of it himself. Religion has yet to prove to be worth it for Huck, never seeing the outcome wanted after prayer. More so, religion did more harm than good, promoting immoral behavior as long as the bible is followed. Although Twain critiques the hypocrisy of society as a cause of immoral behavior, religion is …show more content…
Huck finds a family to take him in, The Grangerfords, yet is caught in the middle of a long lasting family feud. Despite what was about to conspire just hours later, the two feuding families attend church, listening to the service with their guns between their knees. The service was “all about brotherly love...and they all talked it over going home, and had such a powerful lot to say about faith and good work” (Twain 83). This is morally confusing for Huck. Religion was often associated with hypocrisy, with the intent of practicing brotherly love while the reality does not match. The service had no impact on them, and they went about their day. Their is no evidence of brotherly love. Religion during the time did not do anything to show being against inhumane actions, not questioning one family killing another. As long as one attended Church every Sunday, their actions are just. Seeing this, Huck is skeptical of religion and its views. Time and time again, the hypocrisy in religion is demonstrated. While Huck was still staying with Ms. Watson, he practiced religion every day, Ms. Watson including the slaves in on it, as “…they fetched the niggers in and had prayers, and then everybody was off to bed”(Twain 3). It is thought that slaves will reach redemption through …show more content…
Religion plays a part in Huck’s difficulty to justify helping Jim. When Huck finds Jim on Jackson’s island, he is torn on what to do in regards of helping or turning him in. People’s views were associated with religion and he knew, “people would call me a low-down abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum – but that don't make no difference” (Twain 32). He soon realized that religion does not matter. This symbolizes Huck’s coming of age as well, with the ability to get away from the institution responsible for the creation of immoral behaviors. By saving Jim, it is known that he will go to Hell for it, yet Huck does it anyway. Huck finds morality by straying away from a society who promotes the immoral act of slavery. Huck, influenced as expected, by religion tries to retract on his actions and turn Jim in. No matter how hard he tried, he could not get himself to see it as being the right thing to do, so he turned to God to help him. Despite his best efforts, Huck knows, “deep down in me I knowed it was a lie, and He knowed it. You can't pray a lie – I found that out” (Twain 168). He realized that he could not continue to be a part of religion of he helped free Jim, yet he is okay with it. He accepts his fate as going to Hell, since he can not help but help Jim. Huck
Show More

Related Documents: Hypocrisy In Huckleberry Finn

Essay about Huck Finn

The Satire of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain proves himself a literary genius with the novel, Huckleberry Finn. At first glance, the novel appears quite innocently filled with wild adventures centered on the two main characters, Huckleberry Finn, an unruly young boy, and Jim, a black runaway slave. A closer examination of this novel reveals that many of the comments have deeper meaning filled with satire, concerning mostly the views of society at that present time. Twain s notice to "persons attempting…

Words 953 - Pages 4

Satire In The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

an essential characteristic in most satirical texts. Writers exaggerate certain negative aspects of society to employ realisation. Twain’s novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and the satire show “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Immigration and Refugees” criticise society by exposing the idiocy of racism and religious hypocrisy. Oliver and Twain uncover the disguised racism rampant in their respective era. They employ social criticism as an important element to unmask the cloaked flaws of…

Words 1053 - Pages 5

Huckleberry Finn Figurative Language Essay

In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn written by Mark Twain, many important statements about the society during that time were included in the writing. The book is about a boy, Huck Finn, who runs away down the river with a runaway slave, named Jim. The author was able to entwine the story of the main character's adventures and the his ideas about society, by using many different forms of figurative language. The type of figurative language that pointed out many flaws in the society was…

Words 814 - Pages 4

Huck Finn Realism

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is Mark Twains most prominent piece of writing displaying realism. William Dean Howell, considered to be the father of realism and an inspiration to Twain declared “let fiction cease to lie about life... let it not put on fine literary airs; let it speak the dialect, the language, that most Americans know the language of unaffected people everywhere…”(Wagg). Twain used The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to portray the world as it really was by revealing how a child’s…

Words 513 - Pages 3

Huck Finn quotes Essay

returning Jim to slavery. As one of the central idea, racism is constantly reoccurring in the novel of The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. However, though racism is constantly mentioned and exemplify, there was never a direct determined conclusion given by Mark Twain. In one hand, there were many scholars and readers argues that The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn is a racist book because of its overwhelmingly use of the offensive word" nigger". An example of racism would be Pap, Huck's…

Words 775 - Pages 4

Moral Development In The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain analyzes the relationship between moral codes and their impact on society through the characters he creates in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twain builds an interesting moral code for every individual character in view of that character's desires from and his treatment by society and his own experience throughout the book. The young Huckleberry Finn and the adventurous Tom Sawyer, crucial characters in the novel, show these ethical alternate measures: one as an alternate as a run of…

Words 1012 - Pages 5

Explore how the theme of rejection is presented in Twain Essay

theme of rejection is presented in Twain’s ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ and Salinger’s ‘The Catcher in the Rye’. The theme of rejection is shown throughout both novels and their protagonists. Twain and Salinger explore various different ideas of rejection in the extracts I have chosen, and both characters experience the rejection from internal conflict and isolation as they develop. The extract from ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ is from the start of the book where he is being told by the…

Words 1717 - Pages 7

Isolationism In Huckleberry Finn

that Mark Twain juggled with his opinion of religion Twain demonstrates the harsh realities of racism and the hypocrisies in primitive religious beliefs through the story of Huckleberry Finn in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. After Huckleberry Finn treats Jim horribly as a friend and plays multiple pranks on Jim like leading Jim to be bit…

Words 951 - Pages 4

Similarities Between Holden Caulfield And Catcher In The Rye

This is a great example of individualism. Individualism is also shows up when he leaves society and goes into nature. At that point he must decide for himself what is right and what is wrong. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck helps a runaway slave, Jim, escape to freedom. Huck knew the consequences of helping Jim, but it did not stop him from rebelling against society’s views on slavery. Huck’s rebellion showed that individuals need to stop caring about society’s…

Words 2243 - Pages 9

Huckleberry Finn and the use of Satire Essay

Huck Finn and the use of Satire Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been controversial ever since its release in 1884. It has been called everything from the root of modern American literature to a piece of racist trash. Many scholars have argued about Huck Finn being prejudiced. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain uses satire to mock many different aspects of the modern world. Despite the fact that many critics have accused Mark Twain’s novel of promoting racism…

Words 1102 - Pages 5