When Mark Twain desired to make a point, he often did so in dramatic fashion. In his book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn his main point was that society was hypocritical in nature and he was especially referring to American Southern society. To Twain, a
mob was still a mob even when led by “half a man” (pg 146). Twain often espoused the belief that a hypocritical society such as he witnessed in the South contained overwhelming aspects of a mob society, a society that would follow the lead of any individual no matter what the character of that individual.
The mob scene referred to above took place immediately after Colonel Sherburn had killed the
town drunk in cold blood in front of the local citizenry. An angry and revengeful mob composed of the townsfolk made for Sherburn’s residence, and found him there waiting for them on his porch. Holding a rifle, he stopped the mob, derisively informing them that there was not a man among them. The
crowd resentfully dissipates which only further validates Twain’s point.
Additional evidence of mob
mentality, and Twain’s disgust with such mentality, takes place as two of Huck’s traveling companions con their way down the Mississippi River. Stopping at town’s along the way, the King and the Duke pull a variety of scams to fleece the simple townspeople of their hard earned monies. During one such incident, the two men conducted a play for the town that was nothing more than cavorting and silly antics on stage. The attendees knew they had been fleeced, but rather than warning their neighbors and friends, they remained quiet so that others could be fleeced as well. The men, of course, conducted another play the following evening and took additional monies from even more of the citizens of the town. The third night they held the play, again charging the crowd to watch, only this time they absconded with their ill-gotten gains before even conducting a semblance of a play. The two men knew that the crowd was planning on running them ‘out on a rail’ and left before they could do so.
As they
travel an ‘idyllic’ route down the Mississippi River, Huck and his faithful friend, Jim (a
runaway slave) observe the actions of these two men and many other members of society. They discover that the interactions between mankind can be degrading, despicable and debilitating, but ultimately what they discover is that each individual has the opportunity in life to make choices that will lead to happiness and freedom. Huck discovers near the end of the book that Jim is a person, not a piece of property, and that the hypocritical Southern society with which he was most familiar was not as warm and fuzzy as he had once believed. Many of the characters that Huck has to interact with throughout the story are of much darker character than Jim, even though Huck has been conditioned by society to see Jim as something much lower because of the color of Jim’s skin. Twain was able to pen such a novel and have it received in a relatively strong fashion only because of his status as a writer. Many less known authors penning such scathing remarks on society may not have been taken as seriously. In Huckleberry Finn, Twain seems to realize that the very high regard in which his writings were placed allowed him the ability to pen such a work, though it probably ruffled many Southern feathers at the time. Twain probably had an inkling that his works would last, and the thoughts and ideals he portrayed through Huck and Jim would influence many generations to come
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