Mark Twain’s Pessimistic Views Exposed in Mark Twain’s Pessimistic Views Exposed in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, through examples of hypocrisy,racism, and greed, shows Twain’s pessimistic view of society andcorruption of the human race as a whole. This novel documents thetravels of a young boy by the name of Huckleberry Finn, and a runawayslave named Jim as they attempt to explore and escape their homesbecause of their own respective reasons. The plot of this novel isvery simplistic, however the view of Mark Twain’s pessimism regardingsociety as a whole is revealed through various characters andsituations. The idea of hypocrisy by society is Mark Twain’s firstinstance of pessimism.
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The general view of each of the townspeople is that they live in acivilized society. The continual use of the word civilized causes asense of arrogance or cockiness as to the fact that society thinksthat it is so supreme over other life. Mark Twain does not believethat being civilized makes one a better person and that it is theinner soul that creates a good person. For example, the townspeoplebelieve they are superior, but beneath the surface, they are allselfish, arrogant, hateful people. Any of the people in town can be anexample of this as they believe that they are better than any of theslaves that they own. Jim, on the other hand, is Twain’s portrayal ofa kind and gentle hearted soul and this shows his pessimism towardsthe hypocrisy of society in the fact that it again illustrates thewrong belief that civilization makes you superior. Jim is a betterhuman being than the majority of the people that are living in thetown. Racism is another ideal that Mark Tw…
… continually. Right then we can see the effects of hisgreed. In the aftermath though, Twain decides to show the severity ofan outcome of greed by causing the death of Pap. Death is alwayscaused by greed, whether it is death of the physical body ormoralistic part of the personality.
Mark Twain’s pessimisms of society are portrayed through his beliefson hypocrisy, racism, and greed. After more in depth characterizationof Twain’s beliefs on society, it is safe to assume that he believesnot in outward appearances or social standing, but that the trueperson is inside the body, the soul makes up whether we are of highclass or low class. Twain was a man beyond his time in the fact thathe realized the true meaning of life and that one should not judge abook by its cover. To truly understand a person, one must look to theabstract ideas of their life.
