The term "civilized behavior" is one that has been mentioned back in history and is still discussed today. The issue of slavery is one of the biggest examples of what was thought about when it came to civilizing a group of people. For a more modern situation, we all know that we shouldn’t steal and this is not good behavior. There is a country in central Africa where stealing isn't punishable. Societies like these determine what is acceptable or not. What one person/society may accept, others won't. There is no universal standard for good and bad in situations like these. In Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, characters such as Huck, Miss Watson, Pap, Tom, etc., show themselves and their rules to be hypocritical. Critics Julius Lester, Justin Kaplan, and Shelly Fishkin further emphasize how Huck's society is hypocritical in their treatment of Jim.
Primarily, the widow Douglass and Miss Watson were the first ones to open Huck's eyes to what their society considered acceptable or not. Both of these characters tried to educate Huck when it came to the Bible, Heaven and Hell, spelling, and proper manners (Twain 132). Huck wanted to smoke, but the widow wouldn’t allow it. In reply to his request, "She said it was a mean practice and wasn’t clean, and I must try to not do it anymore…And she took snuff too; of course that was alright, because she done it herself" (132). As minor as it is, the widow didn’t like for Huck to smoke, yet she did this herself. Smoking is bad for everyone, so for an elderly woman such Ms. Douglass to do this and not allow a young boy to smoke is surprising. Huck eventually got tired of all the "sivilizing" and double standards in his community, so he did whatever he wanted, including smoking, once he got the chance.
Soon after this experience with the widow, Huck had to deal with his "uncivilized white father." Parents are known for wanting the best for their children, but apparently Pap had something against Huck having a home and getting an education. Pap would constantly get drunk: "He was going down to town to get some whiskey… next day he was drunk… pap took it [Huck's three dollars] and got drunk" (Twain 143). He would also curse at everyone and everything: "Then the old man got to cussing, and cussed everything and everybody he could think of, and then cussed them all over again to make sure he hadn't skipped any" (146). None of these describe a civilized person, let alone a parent.
Pap wanted custody of Huck, mostly for his money. Pap thought there was nothing wrong with taking Huck away from the sisters who adopted him, so Pap went to court. Judge Thatcher and the widow tried to take Huck away from his father and be Huck's guardian instead, but a new judge had come and didn’t know Pap's history, "so he said courts mustn't interfere and separate families if they could help it; said he'd [rather] not take a child away from its father. So Judge Thatcher and the widow had to quit on the business" (Twain 143). The logic behind the new judge's verdict is flawed. The judge made it possible for Pap to mercilessly beat Huck and lock him away from the outside world. Huck described his situation saying, "Pap got too handy with his hick'ry, and I couldn’t stand it. I was all over welts. He got to going away so much too, and locking me in. Once he locked me in and was gone three days" (Twain 145). Neither Pap nor the judge were correct in their behavior. As two men who had power over Huck's welfare, their backward mentality jeopardized Huck instead and convinced him to run away.
The widow tried to do what she thought best for Huck, but her sister Miss Watson was more hypocritical than caring. As much as Miss Watson wanted to improve Huck's behavior, she wasn’t very moral herself. Like many people in the time period of Twain's story, slavery was a common practice, so it wasn’t surprising for Miss Watson to own a slave herself. While it was common, it didn’t make this practice ethical. Jim was her household slave, but when he overheard Miss Watson talking about selling him to a plantation, Jim ran away. Jim told Huck his story when they both meet as runaways on an island: "Miss Watson- she pecks on me all [the] time, [and] treats me [pretty] rough… [and] I hear ole missus tell [the widow] she [going] to sell me down to Orleans, but she didn’t want to, but she could [get] eight hund'd dollars for me, [and it was] such a big stack o' money she couldn' resis'" (Twain 157). The temptation of money clouded Miss Waton's reason so she was willing to give up Jim. Jim would suffer even more where slavery was in full force and he would also be separated from his family. Before Jim could find out what would really happen, he ran for his life.
Jim's plight to freedom is interesting and one of the main parts in Huck's adventures. Although hard to understand and really superstitious, Jim is kind hearted and more of a father figure to Huck than Pap. Readers can't help but feel sympathetic to Jim's situation. When Huck and Jim team up, Huck learns that Jim is at everyone's mercy, including his. Going against what society thinks is right, Huck tries to help and protect Jim. This internal battle of Huck's, whether he should return Jim to Miss Watson or help him to his freedom, is a big decision for a young boy. Jim goes on about what he will do once he gets his freedom and even says, "de ole true Huck; de on'y white genleman dat ever kep' his promise to ole Jim" (Twain 185). Hearing this and the thoughts going through Huck's mind, makes him feel sick. But when the time comes, Huck made up his mind to protect Jim against slave catchers (185-186).
Justin Kaplan discusses Huck's awareness to what is thought of as right vs. wrong. Kaplan wrote, But Huck eventually recognizes slavery for the wild thing it was. He follows the dictates of his sound heart and commits a sin as well as a crime by helping Jim to run away from his legal owner. All right, then, I'll go to hell," Huck says. "It was awful thoughts, and awful words, but they was said. And I let them stay said; and never thought no more about reforming (315-316). Huck saw past "civilization" by his society's standards to do the right thing and help someone in need.
By the end of Huck's adventures, Jim goes through much distress at the hands of "civilized" people. Shelly Fisher Fishkin best sums up Jim's unfortunate and unjust situation: Incarcerated in a tiny shack, with a ludicrous assortment of snakes, rats, and spiders… Jim is denied information... After risking his life to get the freedom that, unbeknownst to him, is already his, after proving himself to be a paragon of moral virtue… this legally free black man is still denied respect- and is still in chains. All of this happens… at the initiative of a respectable Tom Sawyer and churchgoing citizens like the Phelps and their neighbors (324-325). This goes hand-in-hand with what Julius Lester wrote: "Jim is a plaything, an excuse for the adventure of it," to be used as it suits the fancies of the white folk..." (315). Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn illustrates how disgusting and evil racism and slavery is. He wanted to show how "civilized society" treated African Americans, even if they were free.
Overall, the hypocrisy of Huck's society and its members is seen in Twain's writing along with critic's point of view. Huck was being "brainwashed" by his adopted guardians, his dad, and friend, Tom Sawyer, but he was still able to break away from society's norms. The hypocrisy by these characters, especially in their behavior towards and about Jim and other slaves, convinced Huck that he should follow his intuition rather than what society dictates. Because Huck stood up for what is right, he was able to help Jim get his long awaited freedom.
Works Cited
Fishkin, Shelly Fisher. "From Lighting Out for the Territory: Reflections on Mark Twain and American Culture." The Norton Anthology: American Literature 1865-1914. Ed. Nina Baym and Robert S. Levine. 8th ed. New York
Kaplan, Justin. "From Born to Trouble": One Hundred Years of Huckleberry Finn." The Norton Anthology: American Literature 1865-1914. Ed. Nina Baym and Robert S. Levine. 8th ed. New York
Lester, Julius. "From Morality and Adventure of Huckleberry Finn." The Norton Anthology: American Literature 1865-1914. Ed. Nina Baym and Robert S. Levine. 8th ed. New York
Twain, Mark. "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." The Norton Anthology: American Literature 1865-1914. Ed. Nina Baym and Robert S. Levine. 8th ed. New York
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