In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain, Twain used the characters to show his opinion of the hypocrisy of the “honorable southern gentleman.” Twain demonstrates that on the surface these men seemed honorable, but in reality they did and said things that were wrong and disgusting. In today’s world people imagine the southern gentleman as portrayed by the movie screen and books. We see a well-bred man, with good manners, and a high position in society. This well-dressed man would be wearing his coat and hat, would take amazing care of his family, and if he was not yet married, he would certainly be the center of attention of all the single young ladies. The audience or reader imagines him residing over his large…show more content… Huck even stated that “Nobody ever denied that she was of the first aristocracy in our town.” This lady had many good characteristics and intentions in the fact that she wanted to civilize Huck and teach him about God. However, we see several cases of hypocrisy with her as well. First of all, after Huck asked her if he could start smoking, the Widow said that he absolutely could not participate in such a nasty habit. Soon after this, Huck states “And she took snuff too; of course. That was all right, because she had done it herself.” Clearly, this is a form of hypocrisy. This is a case of “do as I say, not as I do.” The Widow does not approve of smoking and tells Huck that it is wrong, but then turns around and takes snuff when she thinks no one is looking. These are both addictive and nasty practices. Another example of her hypocrisy is the fact that she believes in God, believes the Bible, but then owned slaves. It is true, that this was normal back then, and many people did not understand that it was actually wrong. However, she was also demonstrating hypocrisy when she brought her slaves in to pray before they went to
