The hypocrisy of late 1800’s American society is shown in countless ways, page after page in Mark Twain’s novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Just like Huck, Twain himself saw the flaws and ignorance in humans:In my schoolboy days I had no aversion to slavery. I was not aware that there was anything wrong about it. No one arraigned it in my hearing; the local papers said nothing against it; the local pulpit taught us that God approved it, that it was a holy thing, and that the doubter need only look in the Bible if he wished to settle his mind–and then the texts were read aloud to us to make the matter sure; if the slaves themselves had an aversion to slavery they were wise and said nothing. In Hannibal we seldom saw a slave misused; on the farm, never. (Mark Twain’s autobiography)
As Twain matured and outgrew his “schoolboy days” he became quite the advocate for the equal rights of African Americans. He financed Warner T. McGuinn’s college education at Yale law school. McGuinn who later became a prestigious African American lawyer mentored Thurgood Marshall the first African American Supreme Court justice. Twain also gave to Tuskegee University, the NAACP, and spoke at many African American churches. In the novel as well as his own life Mark Twain displays the wrongs done by society purely because of ignorance and prejudice.Huck who is taken into custody by the widow Douglas very quickly rejects the social norms of upper class American society. “She put me in those new clothes again, and I couldn’t do nothing but sweat and sweat and feel all cramped up.” (Twain 1) Huck never quite understands the need for clothes that are not comfortable, in fact most of his time spent with Jim on the river they did not wear clothes …
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…anted to know; so I knocked on the door, and made up my mind I wouldn’t forget I was a girl.” (41) Most people would have frowned upon a young boy dressing as a girl during this time. Huck’s lack of respect for social morals shows how he does not care if he is accepted because he does not wish to be a part of a society he does not agree with.His time with the widow Douglas, with his father, his encounter with the Grangerfords and the two conmen all lead to Huck’s final decision to leave civilized society for the west. “But I reckon I got to light out for the Territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she’s going to adopt me and sivilize me and I can’t stand it. I been there before.” (220) Huck is going to live his life how he wishes despite what society dictates. He is and always will be a survivor.
Works Cited
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
