Hypocrisy In The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

When society becomes too much to bear, the best thing is to pack up and go off the grid. That is exactly what the main characters Huck Finn and Jim does in the novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Huck Finn is a young boy who was abandoned by his alcoholic father. He is taken in and informally adopted by Widow Douglas. One day, Huck’s father, Pap, comes back to town and demands Huck to give him all his money. Huck does not do it. Pap kidnaps Huck and keep him locked up in a cabin where he physically and emotionally abuses him. Though Huck has to endure Pap’s abuse, he does not mind living away from Widow Douglas who tries to civilize him. Over time, the abuse becomes too much and Huck decides to run away. Huck fakes his own death

Huck sees the people he meets on shore to be hypocrites. They tend to preach one thing and do another. Widow Douglas is the first person Huck finds to be a hypocrite, “pretty soon I wanted to smoke, and asked the widow to let me. But she wouldn’t. . . . And she took snuff too; of course that was all right, because she done it herself” (Twain 15). During Huck’s stay with the Grangerfords, he sees things the family does that are hypocritical too. The Grangerfords go to church while toting guns and listen to sermon about brotherly love (Twain 129) and yet they are engage in a long feud with their neighbor, the Shepherdsons, they have long forgotten the reason (Twain 128). “The fact that the two families brought weapons, which they seem eager to use, to a sermon about ‘brotherly love’ demonstrates the absurd hypocrisy of the situation . . . [and] in the teachings of the gospels” (Kallin 11). The law of society is hypocritical also. The law is supposed to protect and yet Huck is not protected. The new judge gives custody to Pap citing, “courts mustn’t interfere and separate families if they could help it” (Twain 33). While the judge thinks that Huck is better off with Pap; Pap’s actions proves otherwise. Pap often gets drunk and abuses Huck. Pap threatens to beat Huck until he is all bruised up if he does not give money to him (Twain

To society, Jim is nothing more than a property that is worth $800. Jim running off means a monetary loss to Miss Watson. Huck feels as if he is stealing from Miss Watson who has not done him wrong. There are times when Huck thinks that he must do the right thing and turn Jim in. However, he wants to do it anonymously because society does not tolerate people who decry slavery, “people would call me a low down Ablitionist” (Twain 55). Huck’s view of Jim is influenced by society stereotypes of what a black person is: superstitious, inferior, and with no emotion. But time and time again, Jim expresses sorrow for being separated from his family, “He was setting there with his head down betwixt his knees, moaning and mourning to himself. . . . He was thinking about his wife and his children, . . . and he was low and homesick” (Twain 170). In order for Jim to reunite with his family, he must buy them back or worst, he might have to steal them back. This shows that something is really wrong when a man has to buy or steal his own family back. “Knowing that slavery and its proponents are his enemies, Jim is unapologetic about having to “steal” what is rightfully his. He understands that what is “wrong” in slavery’s world is actually “right” above and beyond that world” (Wilson 10). Just then, Huck realizes that Jim is not so different, “I do believe he cared