Racism and Hypocrisy in Twain's South

Though the Civil War and Emancipation Proclamation abolished the practice of de jure slavery, they failed to remove deep-seated racist attitudes from the antebellum South. Written after the Civil War, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn directly attacks the entrenched racial prejudice, segregation, and general Southern attitudes towards Blacks through satire disguised as a simple adventure. Twain exposes what he perceives as the ills of Southern Society and its values through a satire targeting hypocrisy, blind faith, and relationships among characters.

During this time period, the South was known as a genteel society whose values were captured in the Southern moral code. The discrepancy between theory and practice of this code, however, is enormous. According to Charles E. Wilson Jr., a literary critic, the codes that the South strives to uphold are " (1) respecting and protecting justice, (2) maintaining a sense of propriety or decorum, (3) embracing Christian values, (4) defending chivalry, (5) upholding the principle of noblesse oblige, and (6) honoring family loyalty" (Wilson 7). Critic April Venn, in a journal pertaining to the preeminence of honor in Southern Society, claims "[it] was the foundation of Southern Society" (Venn 1); though nothing could be further from the truth. Twain exposes this hypocrisy of the South by representing it through "'a band of robbers [called] Tom Sawyer's gang" (Twain 17). When the gang convenes for the first time, they outline a set of codes that are honorable at face value. The boys agree to cooperate and support each other, yet any member suspected even slightly of betrayal is sentenced, without a trial, to a grotesque death and posthumous atrocities (Wilson 8). Such injustices include "[having] his throat cut? [having] his carcass burnt up and the ashes scattered all around, and his name blotted off the list with blood and never mentioned again" (Twain 17). In the same hypocritical way, they hide behind the facade of religious piety by refusing to conduct gang activities on Sunday, yet fail to acknowledge that it is "wrong [to conduct such activities on] any day of the week for a true Christian" (Wilson 8). Even the gang's sense of chivalry is suspect since the proposed activities are "'only robbery and murder'" (Twain 18). Family loyalty is clearly nonexistent since the gang "would kill the families of boys that told the secrets" (Twain 17, 18). In fact, just by joining, each member places his family in mortal danger. Finally, they plan to rob innocent people, compromising propriety and a sense of decorum, and express no concern for the "socially or economically disenfranchised," as befits the noblesse oblige (Wilson 8). Without a doubt, the gang has violated every tenet of the moral code that they installed, reflecting the hypocrisy of the South in Twain's time.

Twain utilizes Sawyer's gang to reflect the hypocritical nature of the South in their adherence to the Southern Moral Codes and to reveal an ill of southern society. The gang becomes a "microcosm of the slave-holding South," a society that purports to hold righteous values yet oppresses black slaves (Wilson 8). In addition, the South replaced institutionalized slavery with "Sharecropping,

One reason that Twain's South does not recognize its hypocrisy is that slavery is widely accepted. The common acceptance of practices and beliefs leads to complacency that is dangerous to the well being of those discriminated against. To illustrate, the members of Tom's gang accept on faith that the definition of "ransom" is "[to keep] them till they're dead" (Twain 18). The whole situation is ironic in that the boys have boundless faith in Tom even though he is usually wrong. Twain also hints at the average Southern sentiment through Ben Rogers, one of the gang members. Rogers says "All right. I don't mind; but I say it's a fool way" (Twain 19). The definition does not make sense to Rogers and he expresses his view but acquiesces to the tradition of taking Sawyer's words by faith. In Huckleberry Finn, a family feud is also used to expose the folly of blindly following tradition. After a series of mishaps, Huck stumbles upon two families that are at war. The Shepherdsons and the Grangerfords are involved in a feud with heavy casualties on both sides, but "'they don't know now what the row was about in the first place'" (Twain 110). Both families "believe they have a duty to uphold tradition regardless of its inhumanity" (Wilson 6). Furthermore, this tradition of condescension and forced labor is successfully integrated into religion. Christianity teaches the "equality of all under God" but tradition often triumphs over religion (Mitchell 351). In Huck's world, slavery is accepted as legally and socially irreprehensible and even those who preach religion and Christian values, like the Widow Douglass, own slaves.

Just like Sawyer's gang, Twain's South places so much faith in traditional customs and values without careful consideration of their moral and ethical consequences. Some like Ben Rogers have a shadow of doubt at the actions society support but fail to act on that feeling. In any case, as soon as the period of Reconstruction ends, "Privileges gained [by blacks] were soon privileges lost, as new exclusionary civil laws in the South quickly superseded natural (or God-given) laws that would hold blacks as equal citizens?"(Wilson 6). The South is quick to revert to tradition and pass legislation to put blacks back on the bottom rung of the social ladder as tradition dictates. David Brion Davis, author of a book concerning the religious tradition of slavery, claims that "it was commonly said that Negroes were better off in a Christian land, even as slaves, than in living like beasts in Africa" (Davis 190). The ignorant premises that tradition offers assuage moral doubts and allow religion to be corrupted with the condoning of slavery. Even after the Civil War is fought and Constitutional Amendments are drafted to free Blacks, they continue to be faced with disparaging prejudice and new heights of segregation in the South.

The chaotic relationships among many of the white characters are a both a mockery of Southern Society and a means to expose the cruelty and contempt that even white men had for each other. Two such white men are the Duke and King. They are swindlers who epitomize the apathy that white Southerners have for each other. In Diane Telgen's summary of the novel, she lists some of their schemes, which include swindling inheritance money and charging to see a ridiculous farce (Telgen 4). In all of their attempts to make money, they never once consider others; their behavior models that of the stereotypical "carpetbaggers (a derogatory stereotype of Northerners come to prey on the defeated South)" (Telgen 16). Another example is seen when Boggs, a raging alcoholic, storms into a town in a drunken fit. The sheriff kills him and the crowd that witnesses the murder of Boggs seeks "justice" and asserts that "[the murderer] ought to be lynched" (Twain 143). This disregard for other's life both on the Sheriff and crowd's part sheds light on the chaotic situation of Twain's South.

Authors Stewart Emory Tolnay and E. M. Beck discuss in their book, the history of violence in the South in Twain's time. Twain drew from the fact that lynch mobs targeted not only blacks but also "murdered almost 300 white men and women" (Tolnay and Beck 9). Equally important, many of the Southerners in Twain's time also partook of scandalous activities analogous to those of the Duke and King. Such men were labeled as carpetbaggers. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a carpetbagger "seeks private gain from an area often by meddling in its business or politics" (Merriam- Webster). They exploited the South for positions of power and economic benefits. This indiscriminating violence and lack of morals that Twain bore witness to is also seen in his work and the chaotic relationships therein.

Using such elements of satire as hypocrisy, blind faith, and chaotic relationships among characters, Twain accurately portrays the situation of the post war South. Written "during a time of great upheaval", he uncovers the ills of Southern Society which are its abhorrent treatment of blacks, its blind adherence to tradition, and its contempt for others (Wilson 6).