Society in Twain's Eyes

Society in Twain’s Eyes

Mark Twain expresses his views of society in his works of literature. Twain had opinions on many different issues affecting the people of the world. After analyzing these stories his criticisms of mankind are revealed. In Mark Twain’s works, he criticizes religion, slavery, and selfishness to show readers how these issues influence society.

Mark Twain criticizes religion in his writings. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain uses Huck as his main character to criticize religion. Huck is angry because he believes that the religious people in his life are hypocritical. While living with the Grangerfords, he notices that they bring their guns to church. This contradicts the beliefs of Christianity which states that you should not harm one another. Miss Watson tries to teach Huck about prayer, but he eventually gives up because his prayers are not answered. Huck continues to struggle with religion throughout the book until he decides “All right, then, I’ll go to hell” (Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 225).

Religious criticism can also be found in Twain’s The Mysterious Stranger. Twain puts a satirical twist on the concept of religion. He uses the character Satan, to demonstrate the way that he perceives God. This story displays Twain’s criticism that the theory that there is a God is preposterous. “An angel, and kill a priest! An angel who did not know how to do wrong, and yet destroys in cold blood hundreds of helpless poor men and women who had never done him any harm” (The Mysterious Stranger). This quote shows the kinds of choices God would have to make, such as killing good people or creating natural disasters. The whole story puts the concept of religion into perspective and Twain certainly shows his views and criticisms of religion in this work. Stacey Mann suggests “Not only does Twain mask criticism with satire, but he disperses it

throughout his writings so that the reader is never inundated, never suspects that...