You are on page 1of 2

Howlett 1

Griffin Howlett Ms. Woldendorp Period 3/4 November 14, 2011 The satirical hypocrisy of 19th Century White Society Thesis: The novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is not racist because instead of promoting slavery the author, Mark Twain, uses satire, regional dialect, and the development of Huck to expose the hypocrisy of racist 19th century society.

Corruptness of good people A. Religions supposed altruistic spirit clashes with the reality of our self-motivated human nature 1. Miss Watson being a good Christian woman yet owns a slave 2. "Here she was a-bothering about Moses, which was no kin to her, and no use to anybody, being gone, you see..." (pg. 4) Huck represents human nature to only care for himself, and therefore doesnt understand religions unselfish ways B. Person Huck talks to while pretending to be a girl cares for Huck but not Jim even though both are essentially runaways Stupidity and corruptness of Society A. People will do anything to avoid appearing anymore gullible than their neighbors 1. Reaction to Royal Nonesuch show B. Society discourages thought and justice by allowing the possibility of simply following the crowd, and simply doing what has been done in the past when your instead supposed to learn from it and change ways 1. The failed lynching 2. "Oh, I don't know. But he's got to have it. All the nobility does." (pg. 249) 3. Feud between Shepherdsons and Grangerfords Hypocrisy of slavery A. Jim is better than most white people The judge cant protect Huck from the cruelty of his father pap, but Jim does 1. Jim doesnt reveal the identity of the dead person in the house and therefore cares more for Huck than society 2. Jim is honest while the con men are not

II

III

Howlett 1

You might also like