Hypocrisy

Before you start reading this post, I just wanted to have you listen to this song! It's called "City With No Children" by Arcade Fire, and I'm just in love with them, but there is this one line that always sticks out to me. It starts around 1:40. You can fast forward if you like, or just enjoy the song and then pay special attention when it comes closer. It just perfectly describes the hypocrisy of society, more specifically religion, but then kind of gives you a reality check and makes you wonder if you yourself are "like them."

"You can never trust a millionaire quoting the Sermon on the Mount. I used to think I was not like them, but I'm beginning to have my doubts, my doubts about it."

One of the main ideas that Twain satirizes throughout the novel is the hypocrisy of society and its social institutions. Tom Sawyer takes place in the small town of Hannibal, Missouri where everyone knows everyone. The town is not very welcoming to outsiders like Huck Finn and Injun Joe. (Although, you can’t blame them for not opening their arms and embracing Injun Joe!) They see Huck as an outsider who is only around to start trouble and negatively influence their children. Even Tom, who isn’t as cast out as Huck and Injun Joe, is struggling to fit in because of his tendency to always find mischief. 

The people living in the town are all Christians and find themselves to be above all others. This is one of the main points of society that Twain targets. The example that sticks out the most in my mind is just the way the town treats outsiders. I already began to mention the people that were cast out and frowned upon and Twain is just shedding like on how truly “un-Christian” these citizens of Hannibal are acting. These people go to church and claim to be good Christians yet they treat people that are “lesser” than them with no respect. These are the same people that are slaveholders as well, and I don’t understand how anyone can sit around calling themselves Christians when they have people enslaved under their self-proclaimed authority. It reminds me of Narrative of a Slave when Frederick Douglass is describing the different slaveholders. The ones that have the most power and the most slaves claim to be God-fearing men who also happen to be leaders of the churches in their communities. There is something so wrong with that and it amazes me that such injustices went on for so long. I hate being a hypocrite, so I can’t imagine doing something so blatantly horrible but justifying it with the words of the Bible. 

Sorry, I went off on a little Douglass tangent! But it just bothers me that such things occurred in our history. Going back to Tom Sawyer though, Twain shed light on such hypocrisies using imagery and Tom as an outlet for his frustrations with society. My favorite instance of Twain’s subtle satire is the reaction of the town when Injun Joe dies. Society had cast him out as a violent murder and once he died something in their attitudes changed. They immediately went from being hateful toward him to lifting him up to God and forgiving him for the things he did. This would be the Christian thing to do, if it were actually sincere. I love that when Twain describes this transformation he is so dramatic with his imagery of the women and their petition that you can almost see him rolling his eyes as he writes. It’s just awesome when you can read a novel and picture them writing it like that.

When I was reading the excerpt of “Self Reliance” for class a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a little quote that I think Twain would completely agree with. Emerson and Twain have similar views on society and both urge independent thinking. In “Self Reliance” Emerson is discussing the need for people to understand that we should be governed by what is within ourselves, not by what others say or do. He then goes on to say he is “ashamed to think how easily we capitulate to badges and names, to large societies and dead institutions.” I read this is smiled because I immediately pictured Twain reading this and jumping up to give Emerson an enthusiastic high-five! Or maybe just a stern but sincere thumbs up considering this is what he looks like......