Hypocrisy as Seen Through Mark Twain's Eyes.

             Mark Twain was an American writer whose best work is characterized by humor and satire, but is also known for it's realism of place and language, fascinating characters, and strong hatred of hypocrisy. He was a brilliant essayist who often wrote as outraged by the social, moral, and religious corruption he saw around him. This outrage was reflected in his many essays, novels, and short stories. His straightforward, reportorial style of writing is one of the reasons that he is revered, as well as criticized as an author to this day.

             Some of Twain's most acclaimed books were written in the 1870's and 1880's in Hartford. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), The Prince and the Pauper (1882), A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889), and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884) are some of his most commonly known works. Other works of this period are Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894), and Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc (1896). .

             The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the sequel to Tom Sawyer is considered by most to be Twain's masterpiece. In Huckleberry Finn, the author embodies himself into several different characters to make his point. He creates situations that illustrate his disapproval of certain facets of society. In this novel, Twain uses a lot of dialogue to .

             convey his disgust for the cruelty of society. A strong overtone of condemnation can be found in the story. The situations that Huck witnesses concerning the Grangerford and the Shepherdson families define Twain's views of the best and the worst of humanity. The Grangerfords take Huck in, and treat him like a son, but only after they were about to shoot him for suspicion of being a Shepherdson. The two families are killing each other, but they can not remember why they are feuding. When Huck asks Buck, a Grangerford son, why he killed a Shepherdson boy, he said, "Why, nothing - only it's account of the feud" (Twain 105).