huck finn and religious hypocrisy
By Amanda Szafraniec
Among the many important and obvious subjects comprising The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, lurks a topic that was of major concern and a point of struggle in the life of the author, Samuel Clemens (pseudonym: Mark Twain). In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain frequently criticizes religion and religious hypocrisy.
Twain was a skeptic who harbored doubts about God from his childhood to his death. He harshly condemned and censured organized religion. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn gives us insights into the moral and religious beliefs of the author. Twain once said of the biblical Adam: “The first man was a hypocrite and a coward, qualities which have not yet failed in his line; it is the foundation upon which all civilizations have been built” (Twain & Rasmussen 137).
Many characters in this novel use religion to manipulate others and further their own aims or justify their actions using scripture. Miss Watson and the Widow Douglas, Huckleberry’s guardians, are not exempt from religious hypocrisy.
From the first chapter, the novel paints religion and believers in an unfavorable light. Huckleberry has been taken in by Miss Watson and the Widow Douglas, two pious and maternal characters who do their best to instill their Biblical morality in Huck. The Widow tries to “sivilize” Huck so he can fit into society by teaching him proper manners, reading and arithmetic, and many Bible lessons. Huck is often confused by these lessons and the prayers and daily rituals in the household. Huckleberry comments: “When you got to the table, you couldn’t go right to eating, but you had to wait for the widow to tuck down her head and grumble a little over the victuals, though there warn’t really anything the matter with them” ( Twain & Hearn 10). Obviously, Huck doesn’t understand why the Widow is “grumbling” over the meal. The Widow forbids Huckleberry to smoke, calling it a “mean practice” and that it isn’t “clean."
He says, “Here she was a bothering about Moses, which was no kin to her, and no use to anybody, being gone, you see, yet finding a power of fault with me for doing a thing that had some good in it” (Twain & Hearn 11). Huck can’t help but notice, however, that the Widow, herself, uses snuff. Although it is honorable of the Widow to take Huck in to educate and raise him as if he were her own son, this comment by Huck reveals to us that the Widow does have a hypocritical side.
We can also directly apply this example of her duplicity to her hypocrisy of being a supposedly highly moral Christian woman, yet an owner of slaves. She would have used the story of Moses, which she teaches to Huck, to justify owning slaves as many Southerners did in those times. Although Moses freed his own people from the Egyptians, in Exodus 21 he outlines rules for slave-owning. If Moses was accepting of slavery, there is no reason for good Christians to give up their own slaves.
Miss Watson is a stern and “slim old maid” who takes a rough approach to teaching Huck. She constantly rebukes Huck and criticizes his every move. She has a very low opinion of him and warns that he is going to go to “the bad place” (Twain & Hearn 11), or hell, if he doesn’t behave. Huck is so frustrated with her that he replies that he would rather go to “the bad place” than be constantly upbraided. He felt sorry after he said it and explained that all he wanted “was a change” (Twain & Hearn 11).
The unfairness of the Widow’s hypocritical commands and Miss Watson’s threats of damnation make Huckleberry feel frustrated and contemptible. He goes to his room and explains that he “… felt so lonesome I most wished I was dead” (Twain & Hearn 12). And no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t think of a "cheerful” thought. Huck, a good boy who knows the difference between right and wrong, wishes he were dead because of the conflicting and negative lessons he has been taught. He thinks he is brutish, uncivilized, unholy, and probably damned to hell. Huck gets “… so downhearted and scared, I did wish I had some company” (Twain & Hearn 12). It is no great surprise that he wants the company of Tom Sawyer, who does not judge or scold him. Spending time away from the household tension with his friend, Tom, only earns him more punishment the following day.
Despite his protagonist's lack of religious education, few positive adult influences, and superstitious beliefs, Twain created Huckleberry to be more moral and more rational than other characters. Huck arguably has better moral judgment than the Widow and Miss Watson. He can recognize, in spite of pressure from society, that slavery is wrong. Huck rebels against the society by not turning Jim in as a runaway.
For some time, Huck was raised by his father, who is immoral and brutish, and Huck never fully grasps the moral religious education of his guardians. However, Huck seems to choose the most rational and good decision when faced with tough moral dilemmas. Mark Twain would have argued that Huck’s morality came about through evolutionary means. Twain believed that all people, such as Huckleberry, are born with a sense of right and wrong. Demanding that Huck go against his nature because what he believes is right is actually wrong or uncivilized causes Huck to rebel and eventually blame himself for his “shortcomings” and feel poorly about himself.
Huck tries to obey his guardians and he seriously considers their points of view. He avoids telling lies whenever possible. Huck initially feels that it was wrong of Jim to escape because, according to the culture and law of the South at that time, Jim was the property of the Widow and Miss Watson; however, Huck does his best to honor his word to Jim and even keeps his escape a secret, despite Huck’s misgivings about it. Huck reassures Jim, saying, “Well, I did. I said I wouldn't, and I'll stick to it. Honest injun, I will. People would call me a low-down Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum – but that don't make no difference. I ain't a-going to tell …” (Twain & Hearn 87).
It is true that Huck does not always do what is right. He is often confused about what is right and wrong because of contradictory information from his father and his guardians. Throughout the book, he tries his best to absorb the lessons of others, but he also relies on his instincts when deciding what is right. He often does do what is right, despite risks to himself. He takes a large risk by helping Jim, a runaway slave, escape to his family. Huck exposes the malicious trickery of the Duke and the King to the Wilks family before these characters can rob the family blind, and he even tries to save a band of thieves from drowning.
Obviously, Huckleberry is a good boy and not as wicked as Miss Watson and the Widow Douglas believe. Mark Twain created Huckleberry as a flawed but fundamentally good person and surrounded him with adults who claim moral superiority but often act against the teachings of their own religions.
Works Cited
Twain, Mark and Michael Patrick Hearn. "The Annotated Huckleberry Finn." New York: W.W. Norton, 2001. Print.
Twain, Mark, and R. Kent Rasmussen. "The Quotable Mark Twain: His Essential Aphorisms, Witticisms & Concise Opinions."
New York: McGraw Hill, 1998. Print.
Read more about Amanda Szafraniec on her personal blog.
Among the many important and obvious subjects comprising The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, lurks a topic that was of major concern and a point of struggle in the life of the author, Samuel Clemens (pseudonym: Mark Twain). In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain frequently criticizes religion and religious hypocrisy.
Twain was a skeptic who harbored doubts about God from his childhood to his death. He harshly condemned and censured organized religion. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn gives us insights into the moral and religious beliefs of the author. Twain once said of the biblical Adam: “The first man was a hypocrite and a coward, qualities which have not yet failed in his line; it is the foundation upon which all civilizations have been built” (Twain & Rasmussen 137).
Many characters in this novel use religion to manipulate others and further their own aims or justify their actions using scripture. Miss Watson and the Widow Douglas, Huckleberry’s guardians, are not exempt from religious hypocrisy.
From the first chapter, the novel paints religion and believers in an unfavorable light. Huckleberry has been taken in by Miss Watson and the Widow Douglas, two pious and maternal characters who do their best to instill their Biblical morality in Huck. The Widow tries to “sivilize” Huck so he can fit into society by teaching him proper manners, reading and arithmetic, and many Bible lessons. Huck is often confused by these lessons and the prayers and daily rituals in the household. Huckleberry comments: “When you got to the table, you couldn’t go right to eating, but you had to wait for the widow to tuck down her head and grumble a little over the victuals, though there warn’t really anything the matter with them” ( Twain & Hearn 10). Obviously, Huck doesn’t understand why the Widow is “grumbling” over the meal. The Widow forbids Huckleberry to smoke, calling it a “mean practice” and that it isn’t “clean."
He says, “Here she was a bothering about Moses, which was no kin to her, and no use to anybody, being gone, you see, yet finding a power of fault with me for doing a thing that had some good in it” (Twain & Hearn 11). Huck can’t help but notice, however, that the Widow, herself, uses snuff. Although it is honorable of the Widow to take Huck in to educate and raise him as if he were her own son, this comment by Huck reveals to us that the Widow does have a hypocritical side.
We can also directly apply this example of her duplicity to her hypocrisy of being a supposedly highly moral Christian woman, yet an owner of slaves. She would have used the story of Moses, which she teaches to Huck, to justify owning slaves as many Southerners did in those times. Although Moses freed his own people from the Egyptians, in Exodus 21 he outlines rules for slave-owning. If Moses was accepting of slavery, there is no reason for good Christians to give up their own slaves.
Miss Watson is a stern and “slim old maid” who takes a rough approach to teaching Huck. She constantly rebukes Huck and criticizes his every move. She has a very low opinion of him and warns that he is going to go to “the bad place” (Twain & Hearn 11), or hell, if he doesn’t behave. Huck is so frustrated with her that he replies that he would rather go to “the bad place” than be constantly upbraided. He felt sorry after he said it and explained that all he wanted “was a change” (Twain & Hearn 11).
The unfairness of the Widow’s hypocritical commands and Miss Watson’s threats of damnation make Huckleberry feel frustrated and contemptible. He goes to his room and explains that he “… felt so lonesome I most wished I was dead” (Twain & Hearn 12). And no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t think of a "cheerful” thought. Huck, a good boy who knows the difference between right and wrong, wishes he were dead because of the conflicting and negative lessons he has been taught. He thinks he is brutish, uncivilized, unholy, and probably damned to hell. Huck gets “… so downhearted and scared, I did wish I had some company” (Twain & Hearn 12). It is no great surprise that he wants the company of Tom Sawyer, who does not judge or scold him. Spending time away from the household tension with his friend, Tom, only earns him more punishment the following day.
Despite his protagonist's lack of religious education, few positive adult influences, and superstitious beliefs, Twain created Huckleberry to be more moral and more rational than other characters. Huck arguably has better moral judgment than the Widow and Miss Watson. He can recognize, in spite of pressure from society, that slavery is wrong. Huck rebels against the society by not turning Jim in as a runaway.
For some time, Huck was raised by his father, who is immoral and brutish, and Huck never fully grasps the moral religious education of his guardians. However, Huck seems to choose the most rational and good decision when faced with tough moral dilemmas. Mark Twain would have argued that Huck’s morality came about through evolutionary means. Twain believed that all people, such as Huckleberry, are born with a sense of right and wrong. Demanding that Huck go against his nature because what he believes is right is actually wrong or uncivilized causes Huck to rebel and eventually blame himself for his “shortcomings” and feel poorly about himself.
Huck tries to obey his guardians and he seriously considers their points of view. He avoids telling lies whenever possible. Huck initially feels that it was wrong of Jim to escape because, according to the culture and law of the South at that time, Jim was the property of the Widow and Miss Watson; however, Huck does his best to honor his word to Jim and even keeps his escape a secret, despite Huck’s misgivings about it. Huck reassures Jim, saying, “Well, I did. I said I wouldn't, and I'll stick to it. Honest injun, I will. People would call me a low-down Abolitionist and despise me for keeping mum – but that don't make no difference. I ain't a-going to tell …” (Twain & Hearn 87).
It is true that Huck does not always do what is right. He is often confused about what is right and wrong because of contradictory information from his father and his guardians. Throughout the book, he tries his best to absorb the lessons of others, but he also relies on his instincts when deciding what is right. He often does do what is right, despite risks to himself. He takes a large risk by helping Jim, a runaway slave, escape to his family. Huck exposes the malicious trickery of the Duke and the King to the Wilks family before these characters can rob the family blind, and he even tries to save a band of thieves from drowning.
Obviously, Huckleberry is a good boy and not as wicked as Miss Watson and the Widow Douglas believe. Mark Twain created Huckleberry as a flawed but fundamentally good person and surrounded him with adults who claim moral superiority but often act against the teachings of their own religions.
Works Cited
Twain, Mark and Michael Patrick Hearn. "The Annotated Huckleberry Finn." New York: W.W. Norton, 2001. Print.
Twain, Mark, and R. Kent Rasmussen. "The Quotable Mark Twain: His Essential Aphorisms, Witticisms & Concise Opinions."
New York: McGraw Hill, 1998. Print.
Read more about Amanda Szafraniec on her personal blog.