Through Huck’s eyes, a reader is able to comprehend the hypocrisy of those surrounding Huck during this time in not only his life, but this time in history as well. Emphasizing religion, “mob mentality,” and romantic literature, Twain satirizes these three traits throughout the entirety of the novel to show what perpetrated Huck to “escape” from civilization. From the very beginning of the novel, Twain uses Miss Watson to show the hypocrisy of a “good Christian woman” during this time. Huck says “By and by they fetched the nig*er in and had prayers, and then everybody was off to bed” (Twain 5).
Miss Watson claims to be trying to civilize Huck and teach him the right morals, but at the same time she is the owner of several slaves, considering them property, which is morally wrong according to the Bible. Another example of the Twain using the satire of religion in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is through the Shepardson and Grangerford feud. Every member of these two families claims to be Christian, and yet they are in a constant fight and feud with their neighbor while the Bible states to “love thy neighbor. Also, while both families attend church, they keep their guns tight in between their legs, just in case there’s any trouble while listening to the sermon about “brotherly love,” and the day after this sermon, the bloodiest fight between the families occurs, leaving readers to see for themselves that neither of the families “practice what they preach. ” The reason of the Shepardson and Grangerford feud is unknown to not only Huck, but the majority of the people involved as well. They simply continue fight because it is what they have come to know. This can be seen as an example of Twain’s iconoclastic tendencies towards the idea of a “mob entality. ” Following another’s instinct instead of going along with one’s own is an essential issue that suitably goes along with this novel. During one of his schemes, the King uses the gullibility of the people around him to convince them that he is a pirate-turned-preacher following the glorious ways of God. “Take up a collection for him, take up a collection” (Twain 128) was shouted out by a member of the crowd being “preached” to by the King. Those around him agree, not one of them thinking for themselves and realizing how insane the King’s story actually is.
The Essay on Huck Finn Lies Tom King
Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain In the novel Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, Almost every character lies one way or another. Tom Sawyer lies to portray his imagination, Huck lies about his family, and The King and Duke use lies to profit financially. In the novel Huckleberry Finn Tom sawyer, a young boy with a vivid imagination, lies about the things he and his gang but only uses his imagination. ...
The King and Duke also set another example of the “mob mentality” forth while pretending to be the brothers of Peter Wilks, a deceased man who’s village is waiting for his two English brothers to arrive and claim his wealth. After learning the details of the brothers’ lives, the Duke and King arrive in the Wilks’ town as the English brothers. The longer they spend in the town, the stronger the “mob mentality” gets. As soon as Dr. Robinson steps out and says that the Duke and King are mockups, the rest of the town’s people, who are too blind to see what is really happening, shoot his idea down.
Twain also uses the Boggs-Sherburn event to satire the “mob mentality. ” When Colonel Sherburn proceeds to shoot the town drunk, Boggs, the townspeople decide that what he had done was so horrible that lynching Sherburn was the only fitting solution. Later in the evening when the mob of townspeople show up at his home, Sherburn faces the mob and proceeds to tell them that every individual there is a coward since they are only coming to lynch him in a group, whist not a single one of them would have the courage to do anything to him alone.
The crowd quickly realizes that Col Sherburn is right, and they proceed to leave without lynching him. Huck reflects on the event by saying that the mob was pitiful, and it is seen later in the book that Huck really learns from this, as he decides to leave the basic “morals” of his time period behind and act upon what he thought was right. Twain’s characters in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are all based around the many types of romantic characters that were popular during the time the novel was written. The most prime example of the satire on romantic characters can be grasped through Tom Sawyer.
The Essay on Mob Mentality in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The critic Kenny Williams states that the Colonel Sherburn scene inThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark twain, “allow[s] a brief platform for Twain to express his own contempt for mobs in an era known for such activities and lawlessness. ” This draws the attention to other scenes Twain uses to show his contempt for activities in society. In his novel Mark Twain uses characters and scenes to ...
Throughout the entire book, Tom’s character is based around the thrill-seeking, adventure-loving, basic character of the 1800s. He spends his time looking for the escapades that every boy of that day dreamed of, and Twain took much pleasure in poking fun at that mentality. Another example of the romantic literature iconoclastic idea is the love story between the Shepardson son and the Grangerford daughter. Also seen in Romeo and Juliet, Twain uses this episode to satirize two members of feuding families running off to be lovers together, despite their families’ wishes.
Twain adored satirizing Shakespeare and even used the episode with the Duke and King practicing their “Hamlet monologue” to do so as well. The Duke and King were throwing in lines from other scenes of the play, and even lines from Macbeth, and all the while Jim and Huck were in awe that they could act so well. To show the irrationality of romantic literature, Twain makes sure all of his characters that have any sense of romantic literature pay a price in the end. Tom gets shot, the Duke and King lose their money, and the Shepardsons and Grangerfods lose their family members.
Throughout the rest of the novel there are many more examples of religious, “mob mentality,” and romantic literature satire. Twain found humor in the hypocrisy of religious men and women of this time, as well as the idea that one could not think for themselves during a time when the “mob mentality” morals were absurd. Twain also found entertainment in mocking romantic literature. Although one of the most famous works in the history of literature, it can be proved that almost every aspect of this book is a mockery of something in the American past.
