Finn & South
Kitahli Morgan
Mrs. Sheehan
April 30, 2014.
English III Honors
By definition, the term hypocrisy as said by Merriam-Webster.com, is behavior that does not agree with what someone claims to believe or feel (Merriam-Webster.com). Mark Twain places the setting of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” in the south during the antebellum period to mock the hypocrisies that strongly influence the outcome of the novel. During this period of time, black people were considered to be inferior to white people (Polygenesis and the defense of slavery 400). Blacks were considered to be irresponsible and ignorant based upon their superstitious belief (Race and Racism 82). Actually, in 1787 the United States agreed to this juncture with the passing of the Three-Fifth Compromise which states that slaves only counted as three-fifth of a man (The Three-Fifth Compromise). Twain highlights the flaws of “whole” men in the novel, and one in particular would be pap. Pap, Huck’s father, is a drunk, abusive, and illiterate man. Pap was also a very racist man as he says in Chapter 6 on page 24:
Here was a free nigger there from Ohio—a mulatter, most as white as a white man. He had the whitest shirt on you ever see, too, and the shiniest hat; and there ain 't a man in that town that 's got as fine clothes as what he had; and he had a gold watch and chain, and a silver-headed cane—the awful- est old gray-headed nabob in the State. And what do you think? They said he was a p 'fessor in a college, and could talk all kinds of languages, and knowed everything. And that ain 't the wust. They said he could VOTE when he was at home. Well, that let me out. Thinks I, what is the country a-coming to? It was 'lection day, and I was just about to go and vote myself if I warn 't too drunk to get there; but when they told me there was a State in this country where they 'd let that nigger vote, I drawed out. I says I 'll never vote agin.
Pap shows immense ignorance in saying he will never vote
Mrs. Sheehan
April 30, 2014.
English III Honors
By definition, the term hypocrisy as said by Merriam-Webster.com, is behavior that does not agree with what someone claims to believe or feel (Merriam-Webster.com). Mark Twain places the setting of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” in the south during the antebellum period to mock the hypocrisies that strongly influence the outcome of the novel. During this period of time, black people were considered to be inferior to white people (Polygenesis and the defense of slavery 400). Blacks were considered to be irresponsible and ignorant based upon their superstitious belief (Race and Racism 82). Actually, in 1787 the United States agreed to this juncture with the passing of the Three-Fifth Compromise which states that slaves only counted as three-fifth of a man (The Three-Fifth Compromise). Twain highlights the flaws of “whole” men in the novel, and one in particular would be pap. Pap, Huck’s father, is a drunk, abusive, and illiterate man. Pap was also a very racist man as he says in Chapter 6 on page 24:
Here was a free nigger there from Ohio—a mulatter, most as white as a white man. He had the whitest shirt on you ever see, too, and the shiniest hat; and there ain 't a man in that town that 's got as fine clothes as what he had; and he had a gold watch and chain, and a silver-headed cane—the awful- est old gray-headed nabob in the State. And what do you think? They said he was a p 'fessor in a college, and could talk all kinds of languages, and knowed everything. And that ain 't the wust. They said he could VOTE when he was at home. Well, that let me out. Thinks I, what is the country a-coming to? It was 'lection day, and I was just about to go and vote myself if I warn 't too drunk to get there; but when they told me there was a State in this country where they 'd let that nigger vote, I drawed out. I says I 'll never vote agin.
Pap shows immense ignorance in saying he will never vote
Cited: Luse, Christopher A. ‘Slavery 's Champions Stood at Odds: Polygenesis and the Defense of Slavery. Civil War History. December (2007). (Vol 53). 379-412 Merriam-Webster.com. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hypocrisy Accessed: 28/04 2014 "The Three-Fifth Compromise." Digital History. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 May 2014. Twain, Mark. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Needham, Massachusetts: Prentice Hall, 1884. Print Van den Bergh, Pierre L. Race and Racism. A Comparative Perspective. (Washington: John Wiley & Sons, 1978).