More than a century ago, Mark Twain probably composed the single-most important piece of American Literature to ever be composed. This work, widely known as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, basically follows young Huck on a series of adventures and experiences with his close friend and runaway slave, Jim, as they both escape society’s load. The novel includes everything good, bad and in between about and concerning the society of that time. A majority of the novel takes place along the Mississippi river, with Young Huck, and Jim each determined to attain a common goal, freedom from the misery of society. In their journey, they come across many different people, and encounter many strange and new experiences that all relate to a common theme that is clear throughout the novel. As their journey progresses, the reader witnesses many horrific and surprising acts, all performed by none other than man himself. In reading this novel it reveals that human beings are cruel, silly, and hypocritical in nature.
It is obvious that Twain supports the idea of the human race being hypocritical. For instance, take the scene in Chapter 20 where groups of people in Arkansas are listening to the sermon of a preacher. In this descriptive passage, it can be minor through Twain’s writing that the average person of this time was in fact “blinded” by religious influences. The meaning of this event can be observed later on in Chapter 21 where Twain
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describes the horrific abuse of animals. “There couldn’t anything wake them up all over, and make them happy all over, like a dog-fight–unless it might be putting turpentine on a stray dog and setting fire to him…” (Twain 140). In putting the two preceding passages inperspective…
…go Mark Twain intended to imply that thehuman race was in fact cruel, hypocritical and downright silly is essentially unknown, most would tend to believe that it was. In this novel, Twain does achieve and illustrate that theme successfully through the usage of many literary techniques such as symbolism and satire. “But what is the significance of all this?” you might be asking yourself, well frankly if one thinks about it hard enough, if we take one big step back and look at the world as a whole, we can see it is in fact flawed. Perhaps, when we read novels such as this one, it can help us to more completely understand the world around us and inturn perhaps inspire us to change our world for the better, eliminating all of the cruelty and hypocrisy we see today.
Works Cited
Mark Twain. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, London: W.W. Norton and Company, 2009
