WANTED: The Duke and the Dauphin’s Morals In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain explores the unlikely friendship of a a young white boy and a runaway slave during the pre civil war era of 1835-1845. Huckleberry Finn is an American classic that explores the cruelty of slavery in the 1800’s; however, the book’s broader theme of man’s inhumanity to man is what makes the story timeless. At the book’s opening, a judge has deemed Pap, Huck’s chronically drunk and frequently absent father, an unsuitable guardian to a boy who has recently come into a large sum of money. Judge Thatcher places the 13-year old boy in the care and custody of two sisters, the widow Douglas and Miss Watson, who are determined to “civilize” the boy. Huck
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For instance, after the king shares a sob story playing to the church goers’ heart strings and sense of charity, they eagerly give him their money, “Take up a collection for him, take up a collection!” (p. 133-134). Twain is suggesting that religious and superstitious people are inherently gullible because they believe in things that cannot be proven. He also relies on vanity as a tool to exploit others. At one point in the story, the king and duke put on a “so called” play that lasts mere minutes. The duped audience fears being “the laughing stock of the whole town” (p. 155). Rather, they become complicit in the scam by talking the show up so “we’ll all be in the same boat” (p. 155). Perhaps their cruelest scam is when they pose as the grieving brothers of Peter Wilks, a local man who has recently passed and survived by three young daughters. As they dispatch the man’s estate, the local doctor and long time family friend warns the daughters not to trust the english man claiming to be her uncle. “Turn your backs on that scoundrel” (p. 172). However, the eldest of the daughters has been swayed by her uncles’ false gestures of generosity and hands over the inheritance under the mistaken belief that the uncles will invest it on her and her sisters’ behalf. In each of these examples, the victims are not portrayed in a sympathetic light. Twain is making …show more content…
In the scheme to defraud the orphaned girls out of their rightful inheritance, the deception is all the more brutal as it is delivered under the guise of kindness. Again, the cruelty of the king betrayal by selling him into slavery is particularly heart wrenching as Huck and Jim had previously saved the con men early in the story when the two were escaping trouble and begged to be let onto the raft. However, Twain shifts the focus of cruelty when in an ironic twist the predators become the victims. The duke and king are tar and feathered by the townspeople for what can be assume to be some scandal. The townspeople reason that it was the most "sivilized" manner of dealing with them. Noting how "Human beings can be awful cruel to one another” (p. 254), Huck finds he cannot reconcile this barbaric act as one of a truly civilized society. Through various blatant and subtle incidents within the novel, such as these, the Duke and the King signified that man is fundamentally cruel to his fellow
For instance, after the king shares a sob story playing to the church goers’ heart strings and sense of charity, they eagerly give him their money, “Take up a collection for him, take up a collection!” (p. 133-134). Twain is suggesting that religious and superstitious people are inherently gullible because they believe in things that cannot be proven. He also relies on vanity as a tool to exploit others. At one point in the story, the king and duke put on a “so called” play that lasts mere minutes. The duped audience fears being “the laughing stock of the whole town” (p. 155). Rather, they become complicit in the scam by talking the show up so “we’ll all be in the same boat” (p. 155). Perhaps their cruelest scam is when they pose as the grieving brothers of Peter Wilks, a local man who has recently passed and survived by three young daughters. As they dispatch the man’s estate, the local doctor and long time family friend warns the daughters not to trust the english man claiming to be her uncle. “Turn your backs on that scoundrel” (p. 172). However, the eldest of the daughters has been swayed by her uncles’ false gestures of generosity and hands over the inheritance under the mistaken belief that the uncles will invest it on her and her sisters’ behalf. In each of these examples, the victims are not portrayed in a sympathetic light. Twain is making …show more content…
In the scheme to defraud the orphaned girls out of their rightful inheritance, the deception is all the more brutal as it is delivered under the guise of kindness. Again, the cruelty of the king betrayal by selling him into slavery is particularly heart wrenching as Huck and Jim had previously saved the con men early in the story when the two were escaping trouble and begged to be let onto the raft. However, Twain shifts the focus of cruelty when in an ironic twist the predators become the victims. The duke and king are tar and feathered by the townspeople for what can be assume to be some scandal. The townspeople reason that it was the most "sivilized" manner of dealing with them. Noting how "Human beings can be awful cruel to one another” (p. 254), Huck finds he cannot reconcile this barbaric act as one of a truly civilized society. Through various blatant and subtle incidents within the novel, such as these, the Duke and the King signified that man is fundamentally cruel to his fellow