Human Nature: Exposed :: essays research papers

Human Nature Exposed     More than a century ago, Mark Twain probably composed the single-mostimportant theatrical role of American Literature to ever be composed. This work, widelyknown as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, essenti tout ensembley follows young Huck on aseries of adventures and experiences with his closemouthed friend (and runaway slave),Jim, as they both escape societys burdens. The novel, in a sense, encompasseseverything salutary, bad and in between about and concerning the society of thattime. A volume of the novel takes place along the Mississippi river, withYoung Huck, and Jim each striving to attain a common goal, freedom from the woesof society. In their journey, they come crosswise many different people, andencounter many strange and new experiences that either relate to a common themethat is evident throughout the novel. As their journey progresses, the readerwitnesses many frightening and surprising acts, on the whole performe d by none other thanman himself. Looking deeper into the symbolistic meaning of many of thesepassages reveals that man, in essence , is cruel, silly, and hypocritical innature.     Through his writing, it becomes app atomic number 18nt that Twain realizes thethematic idea of the human race being hypocritical. For instance, take thescene in Chapter 20 where a group of people in Arkansas are listening to thesermon of a preacher. In this descriptive passage, it can be inferred throughTwains writing that the average person of this time was in fact "blinded" byreligious influences. The significance of this event can be observed later onin Chapter 21 where Twain describes the horrific abuse of animals. "Therecouldnt anything wake them up all over, and make them able all over, like adog-fight--unless it might be putting spirit of turpentine on a stray dog and setting fireto him..." (Twain 140). In putting the two preceding passages in perspective a d istinctive irony becomes visible. The same type of individuals whom practicereligion in good faith turn around and perform cruel acts to animals, for sportof all things. This is hypocritical because the basis of religion is definitelynot to support or defend such acts, but that doesnt seem to have any indecentaffect upon the average person who is merely "blinded" by fascinate of religionand what it stands for, not having any intention of carrying out its plight.So all said and done, Twain wanted to make it clear to the reader in a subtleway that these two scenes, in conjunction support the statement that Twainswriting makes the human race out as hypocritical in nature.     In addition of Twain using the experiences that Huck and Jim endure to