12/19/12
Per. 5
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay
“The most violent element in society is ignorance” -Emma Goldman. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, it is put in plain sight that ignorance is dominant in the lives of the characters. Through the irony used in Huck Finn, the reader becomes aware that ignorance is everywhere in society, Twain demonstrates this through Pap, Huck Finn, and the feud between the Grangerfords and Shepherdsons. Hucks deformed conscience informs the reader how ignorant Huck truly is. Huck appears to be flabbergasted when Jim says that if he is not able to free his children he will have to steal them. “It most froze me to hear such talk... here was this nigger which I had as good as helped to run away, coming right out flat- footed and saying he would steal his children- children that belonged to a man I didn’t even know; a man that hadn’t ever done me no harm” (79). Huck is viewing the children as inferior blacks, Huck is defending slavery, and treating Jim as a criminal despite slavery being morally wrong. Towards the end of chapter 23 Jim expresses how much he misses his family. To Huck it seems peculiar for a black person to have all of these emotions “I do believe he cared just as much for his people as white folks do for their’n” (140). Huck once again treats Jim as property instead of the human being he is. Not only does Huck view blacks as inferior but his tosses the word “nigger” like no other. Being a young boy Huck doesn’t realize the impact of the word and how degrading it is, in this aspect Huck lacks intelligence and moral respect. Through all of the insolent remarks made towards slaves and Jim, Huck is portrayed as ignorant. The violent absurd feud between the Grangerfords and Shepherdsons, shows how ignorance can rule a persons life. Huck is constantly asking Buck what this futile feud is all about, Huck asks how long the feud has been going on for, Buck simply replies by saying “It started thirty years ago, or som’ers along there” (97). Huck is still curious to know who began the chaos, with the most blunt answer Huck replies “Laws how do I know? It was so long ago” (97). These two families are constantly fighting someone else's war, they conform and go along shooting people with no actual purpose. Both families attend church on Sunday, amidst being in a sacred place both the Grangerfords and Shepherdsons bring their rifles along “The men took their guns along, so did Buck, and kept them handy against the wall... it was pretty ornery preaching- all about brotherly love” (98). Church is meant to be a place to make amends with one another and for “brotherly” love but the Grangerfords and Shepherdsons exploit the church. Moving on Buck occasionally brings up how neither families are cowards. If one is constantly trying to solve problems through corrupt violence, and if one is constantly enveloped in an absurd feud it shows how much of a coward one is. If one was to show strength one would step up and make peace. In Huck Finn, Pap proves to be an ignorant man who is very hypocritical. Pap is an alcoholic who can barely stand on his own let alone take care of his son Huck. At one point the new judge in town takes Pap into his home to civilize him. Pap repents his sins and claims he’s a new man, sooner than later Pap becomes drunk “In the night some time he got powerful thirsty and clumb out onto the porch-roof and slid down a stachion and traded his new coat for a jug of forty-rod... and toward daylight he crawled out again, drunk as a fiddler, and rolled off the porch and broke his left arm” (20). One would expect that after a “radical” change in Paps life he would stay sober, his hypocrisy defined his ignorance. Pap begins to criticize the government “Call this a government! why just look at it and see what it’s like. Here’s the law a-standing ready to take a man’s son away from him” (23). Pap never is around for Huck and is protesting something that he does not stand for. In addition Pap seems shocked that the government is letting blacks vote “ Why, looky here. There was a free nigger there from Ohio... they said he could vote when he was at home. Well, that let me out” (24). Pap has never once cared about the government. In this case he is also being a hypocrite since he was too drunk to even vote. Pap is ignorant and this was proven through his comments towards the government. Ignorance is found everywhere, even in the deepest corner of the world. At times it defines who one is as a human being. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, it is put in plain sight that ignorance is dominant in the lives of the characters. Through the irony used in Huck Finn, the reader becomes aware that ignorance is everywhere in society, Twain demonstrates this through Pap, Huck Finn, and the feud between the Grangerfords and Shepherdsons.
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