Twain’s Criticism on Society Not everyone can agree on everything. Therefore, criticism is everywhere. We criticize people on there clothes, the style of their hair, the kind of car they drive, what sports they play, how well they are at school, and even how much money they have. As you can see the list goes on. People criticize you on the same things. Even the society you live in. Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is a great example of criticism on our society. Twain develops the plot into Huck and Jim’s adventures allowing him to weave in his criticism of society in. The two main characters, Huck and Jim, both run from social injustice and both are distrustful of the civilization around them. Huck is considered an uneducated, backwards boy, constantly under pressure to conform to the “humanized” surroundings of society. Jim a slave, is not even considered as a real person, but as property. As they run from civilization and are on the river, they ponder the social injustices are even more evident when Huck and Jim have to make landfall, and this provides Twain with the chance to satirize the socially correct injustices that Huck and Jim encounter on land. The satire that Twain uses to expose the hypocrisy, racism, greed, and injustice of society develops along with the adventures that Huck and Jim have. The ugly reflections of society that are seen should question the world we live in, and only the journey down the river provided us with that chance. Throughout the book, hypocrisy of society is seen. The first character they come across with that trait is Miss Watson. Miss Watson constantly corrects Huck for his unacceptable behavior, but Huck does not understand why, “That is just the way with some people. They get down a thing when they don’t know nothing about it.”(2) Later when Miss Watson tries to teach Huck about Heaven, he decides against trying to go there,...
