Examples Of Hypocrisy In Huckleberry Finn

Mark Twain has an interesting way of representing the hypocrisy in the society along the Mississippi River in 1885. Religion, Education and Slavery are just three of the points that Twain uses to get his point across to his audience. Despite the majority of the characters in this story thinking that they are good people, most of their actions go against the morals that they are trying to teach the younger generation.

The story of Huck and Miss Watson is interesting because she teaches him about religion even though her actions do not represent christianity well. This is interesting because Miss Watson is rude to Huck and treats him poorly, but then teaches him to be nice to everyone just like the bible says. ”Don’t gap and stretch like that, Huckleberry-why don’t you try to behave?”(Twain 15). This quote shows that even though Miss Watson acts all high and mighty in the way that she teaches Huck,

she would treat him without trust or respect. Even though the bible says to treat everyone the same no matter what, Miss Watson owns a slave and treats him like property. In this story, Miss Watson tries to sell Jim, her slave, down to the slave owners in New Orleans. ”... I hear old missus tell de widder she gwyne to sell me down to Orleans, but she didn’ want to, but she could git eight hund’d dollars for me, en it’uz sich a big stack o’ money she could’ resis’.”(Twain 41). Not only would he be separated from his family, but the slave owners in New Orleans are unnecessarily mean and don't treat slaves with ANY respect. Everyone knows this to be true, but Miss Watson wants to make more money and selling him down the river will give her that opportunity. Also in this story, the Grangerfords and the Shepherdsons both go to church and pretend to be so holy but then they go and have a gun fight and kill a great quantity of people. This proves that the hypocrisy of religion at this time was evident.

When Huck was living with Miss Watson, the Widow tried to teach him grammar, how to read, and how to write. The Widow teaches Huck how to read and write even though he doesn’t like school or learning. "At first I hated school, but by and by I could stand it.”(Twain 16).This is a clear example of how Huck has learned to tolerate school but still doesn't enjoy it. Also education is not common among the lower class at this time. This is why Pap becomes furious when he learns that Huck knows more than he does. "You're educated, too, they say-can read and write. You think you're better'n your father, now, don't you, because he can't?"(Twain 19). Learning that Huck is smarter than him makes Pap mad because he thinks that Huck is better than him now that he can read and write. At this time if you were educated, you are looked at as higher class. Twain makes hypocrisy well known when he makes Huck, who is not in a higher class, educated. "Shucks, it ain't no use to talk to you, Huck Finn. You don't seem to know anything, somehow-perfect saphead."(Twain 15). The hypocrisy of education was evident at this time, but most people didn't mind not be educated.
In 1885, the civil war still hasn't started so owning slaves was still legal.

The hypocrisy behind slavery at this time was made known by fact that people who owned a slave saw them as nothing more than an object. We realize this when Jim explains why he ran away. He ran away because Miss Watson was going to sell him down in New Orleans. She was going to sell him just like an object instead of treating him like a person. ”... I hear old missus tell de widder she gwyne to sell me down to Orleans, but she didn’ want to, but she could git eight hund’d dollars for me, en it’uz sich a big stack o’ money she could’ resis’.”(Twain 41). Miss Watson sold Jim for $800 without blinking an eye. The idea of the hypocrisy of slavery also relates back to the hypocrisy of religion. They are two very similar themes in the way that the bible teaches to treat everyone and everything equally because it is a creation of God. People in this society were willing to believe in the bible and God except for the part that says to treat people with respect. That is the definition of

hypocrisy.

Although the majority of the characters in this book think they are good people, the hypocrisy of education, religion, and slavery says differently. Twain has a way of making the hypocrisy between religion and slavery coincide with each other. He also makes the hypocrisy of education quite clear through the characters of the Widow Douglas and Huck. The Widow stresses Huck learning how to read and write because she didn’t want education to be limited to the upper class. Twain represents hypocrisy of this society well.