Nineteenth Century Progress
In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, there are many instances mentioned that contain themes of discrimination towards African Americans and portray both, stereotypical views against women and gender roles. These instances were commonly found in the daily lives of those living before and throughout the 1800s. These ignorant and very prevalent ideas were challenged during the late nineteenth century by many people that believed in the fight for equality. With time and progress, society’s actions and views toward African Americans and women changed marginally in the eyes of the people, but changed vastly in the view of the law.
In the book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, there are many examples easily found that …show more content…
The Widow was identified as being Huck’s first parental figure that helped educate and provide him with the essentials he would need to live, which were the basic responsibilities of women during the time period (Twain 1-2). The quote, “And then when I went up to bed she come up with me and fetched her candle, and tucked me in, and mothered me so good I felt mean and like I couldn’t look her in the face...,” talks about Aunt Sally “mothering” Huck by taking care of him. The word “mothering” implies that Aunt Sally, and women as a whole, are the ones that are supposed to take of the children (Twain 283). One situation that showed very hypocritical views towards women was when Huck pretended to be a girl and then a woman justified his actual sex with a list of insulting reasons. “You do a girl tolerable poor, but you might fool men, maybe,” the lady then points out that a woman always holds a needle and pokes the thread into the needle. She also mentions, “And when you throw at a rat or anything, hitch yourself up a tip-toe, and fetch your hand up over your head as awkward as you can, and miss your rat about six or seven foot,” as to claim that women cannot properly throw compared to men (Twain
In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, there are many instances mentioned that contain themes of discrimination towards African Americans and portray both, stereotypical views against women and gender roles. These instances were commonly found in the daily lives of those living before and throughout the 1800s. These ignorant and very prevalent ideas were challenged during the late nineteenth century by many people that believed in the fight for equality. With time and progress, society’s actions and views toward African Americans and women changed marginally in the eyes of the people, but changed vastly in the view of the law.
In the book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, there are many examples easily found that …show more content…
The Widow was identified as being Huck’s first parental figure that helped educate and provide him with the essentials he would need to live, which were the basic responsibilities of women during the time period (Twain 1-2). The quote, “And then when I went up to bed she come up with me and fetched her candle, and tucked me in, and mothered me so good I felt mean and like I couldn’t look her in the face...,” talks about Aunt Sally “mothering” Huck by taking care of him. The word “mothering” implies that Aunt Sally, and women as a whole, are the ones that are supposed to take of the children (Twain 283). One situation that showed very hypocritical views towards women was when Huck pretended to be a girl and then a woman justified his actual sex with a list of insulting reasons. “You do a girl tolerable poor, but you might fool men, maybe,” the lady then points out that a woman always holds a needle and pokes the thread into the needle. She also mentions, “And when you throw at a rat or anything, hitch yourself up a tip-toe, and fetch your hand up over your head as awkward as you can, and miss your rat about six or seven foot,” as to claim that women cannot properly throw compared to men (Twain