Trust is something that one gains over a period of time. As an exception to the rule Twain, and consequently Huck trust individuals until given reason not to. When Huckleberry Finn makes the commentary, "Next Sunday we all went to church...The men took their guns along, so did Buck, and kept them between their knees or stood them handy against the wall. The Sheperdsons done the same (Twain 109)." Twain doesn't even feel safe in church, which is ironic in itself. The place where one would most commonly feel safe would be church, but Twain doesn't even feel safe their. With good reason, when one comes to church to make a social appearance while carrying a gun, safety becomes a factor. Twain feels that the Grangerfords and the Shepherdson's are products of their society. Society has taught them to hate over petty issues that they can't even remember.

Twain feels that his fellow man is benevolent when the individual is not a member of society. When the individual is in society, decisions can be influenced by the mob mentality or by what society deems as expectable. Twain needed episodes in this novel to show pure isolated incidents where these situations were happening. Twain has a notion of improvement. Nothing is perfect; and he shows how people in society can be changed for the better. Whatever one does, Twain feels that we should trust an individual, unless there is substantial reason not to. He also alludes that everyone is in a situation where fraudulent behavior is a must, and unless the behavior is harmful there is not a reason to rescind on the acquaintanceship.

Scams and shenanigans plague this novel. In almost every chapter there is some sort of trickery used; sometimes it works, other times it doesn't. Huck trusts until given reason not to. A prime instance of this is when he first meets the Duke and the Dauphin. Huck thinks to himself: It didn't take me long to make up my mind that these liars warn't no kings nor dukes at all, but just low-down humbugs and frauds. But I never said nothing, never let on; kept it to myself; it's the best way; then you don't have no quarrels, and don't get into no trouble. If they wanted to call them kings and dukes, I hadn't no objections, 'long as it would keep peace in the family; and it warn't no use to tell Jim, so I didn't tell him (125). Huckleberry in this situation is

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1014
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)