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Hypocrisy in
Huck Finn
by Kurtis Robinson, Leslie Alday, Zane Vesper
Introduction
This PowerPoint is about hypocrisy in Huckleberry Finn. It will include several
examples of hypocrisy and will provide text from the book.
Hypocrisy: definition
Hypocrisy is the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which
one's own behavior does not conform; pretense. Mark Twain once said:
Example One: Miss Watson
"Pretty soon I wanted to smoke, and
asked the widow to let me ... And she
took snuff, too; of course that was all
right, because she done it herself“
This quote about Huck's wanting to
smoke show's the widow's hypocrisy.
Although it is "dirty" for Huck to want to
smoke a pipe, it is perfectly acceptable
for the widow to take snuff.
Example Two: Pap Finn
Pap tells Huck about a black man who is
better off then he is, and yet he can do all
of the things that he does, but chooses not
to.
•
They said he could VOTE when
he was at home. Well, that let
me out. Thinks I, what is the
country a-coming to? It was
'lection day, and I was just
about to go and vote myself if I
warn't too drunk to get there;
but when they told me there
was a State in this country
where they'd let that nigger
vote, I drawed out. I says I'll
never vote agin.”
•
Pap, who is an ignorant, cruel idiot
speaks as if the black man is worthless
when he himself is awful. Later on,
church people try to reform Pap who tries
to act repentant, but Twain pokes fun at
both “do-gooders” and Pap.
Example Three: Feuds and Fighting
"Well," says Buck, "a feud is this way:
A man has a quarrel with another
man, and kills him; then that other
man's brother kills HIM; then the
other brothers, on both sides, goes
for one another; then the COUSINS
chip in -- and by and by everybody's
killed off, and there ain't no more
feud. But it's kind of slow, and takes a
long time.”
The Grangerfords and Shephardsons
fight and fight and don’t even know
or remember why. We sometimes do
the same.
Example four: Religion
•
"Next Sunday we all went to church,
about three mile, everybody a-horse
back. The men took their guns along,
so did Buck and kept them between
their knees or stood them handy
against the wall”
•
The Shepardsons and the
Grangerfords are the epitome of
hypocrisy. This quote is from the
moment that the two families
attended church. Although the
sermon was about brotherhood and
peace, the two feuding families
brought their guns to church
“It was pretty ornery preaching—all about brotherly love, and
such-like tiresomeness; but everybody said it was a good
sermon, and they all talked it over going home, and had such
a powerful lot to say about faith and good works and free
grace” (and then they continued the feud)
Example five:
•
"First they done a
lecture on
temperance; but they
didn't make enough
for them both to get
drunk on. Then in
another village they
started a dancingschool; but they didn't
know no more how to
dance than a kangaroo
does...“
The Duke and King
•
And speaking of conmen:
The Duke and the King's love of
alcohol is a perfect example of
hypocrisy. One of their schemes to
get money is to make speeches on
the good that temperance will do
for the community, yet they use all
of their money to buy booze and
get drunk.
Mark Twain’s views on hypocrisy
Obviously Mark Twain was against
hypocrisy. Since Huck is the narrator
(and indirectly Mark Twain), then his
view of hypocrisy is the most
important. Whenever Huck felt like
something didn’t quite fit, he noted
that it was unfair and an overall
terrible thing. Mark Twain obviously
agreed with this, because he
expressed his views through his
writing. He used Huck’s sometimes
humorous, unsophisticated outlook to
highlight serious social problems.
And this power point doesn’t even begin to
highlight one of the greatest evils Twain
exposed…slavery.