Hypocrisy In Huck Finn

Words: 829
Pages: 4

In the years that followed the Civil War, there were very little positive advancements in the realm of civil rights. Although the war had ended, Black Americans were left to live as if they were second to White Americans. The Author condemned this social issue, and in attempt to fix it along with others like it, took to spreading his opinion through a popular media outlet: published literature. Mark Twain started a childrens book; he ended a satire with themes centered on hypocrisy. The work he eventually finished depicted a satirical narrative filled with series of adventures being played out by a white teen and his unlikely companion: a runaway slave named Jim. During their adventures in the south, Twain writes in many examples of …show more content…
Loftus. She is another personified example of hypocrisy. Huck is wandering through the woods and happens to stop at a house; one in which Judith Loftus and her husband dwell. After inviting Huck in and discovering Huck deceived her in her own home, she still tells him, “…if you get into trouble you send word to Mrs. Judith Loftus, which is me, and I’ll do what I can to get you out of it…”(64). She then goes on to explain how her husband, Twains representation of an average white man, is hunting a runaway slave whos been accused of killing Huck. The reader knows that their motive for hunting the slave is not justifiable, as it is known to the reader that Huck is very much alive. But still, with no evidence Mr. Loftus and the other town men hunt for an innocent man attempting to escape Southern atrocities. Their justification: “…they found out the nigger was gone; they found out he hadn’t ben seen sence ten oclock the night the murder was done. So then they put it on him…”(59). The fact that Jim is a slave means he is an automatic candidate for being profiled as a cold-blooded murderer. This point showcases Twain’s critical point that “civil whites were committing acts of