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Huckleberry Finn


            Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was a novel that exploited the weaknesses of people from every angle. One of these weaknesses that Twain constantly explored and exploited was how hypocritical religion was in those times. Twain mocks religion through many characters in the novel and helps you come to an understanding of how ridiculous people can act. How people will go against something they "believe" strongly in because they are too ignorant and stubborn to come to a reasonable solution. Twain's vision for this novel is clear through the actions and reactions of the characters to different situations. He wants to make a clear point to the reader about how you need to walk the walk and not just talk the talk when it comes to their beliefs.
             Miss Watson is a prime example of religious hypocrisy. She is a good Christian who " was going to live so as to go to the good place."(Twain 2) but in turn owns many slaves. She states that she has respect for all life and calls herself a woman of God and even instructs Huck to look for "spiritual gifts", but in turn she cannot even give her slaves the gift of freedom. Slavery is something that goes against the church in many ways and Twain shows how a person can be so blinded by society's ways that they can contradict their own beliefs. .
             Down the river at the Shepherdsons and the Grangerfords religious hypocrisy was all around Huck. The two families attend the same church and for one hour every Sunday they stop the fighting to worship. However, their religion makes absolutely no difference to them. Once the service ends, they set about killing each other again. Huck shows this when he is telling us about church on an upcoming Sunday when he states "Next Sunday we all went to church.The men took their guns along," (Twain106) The men are blinded by a feud that no one can even remember the cause of it. This takes control of their lives and even when they attend church they carry their guns with them to use after the service.


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