Corruption In Huck Finn

Immediately upon its introduction, it is clear that this town in Arkansas shown in Chapter XXI is vastly different than the Grangerford’s estate. In fact, it seems considerably poorer than Huck’s own hometown, St. Petersburg. Huck describes the town as this, “The stores and houses was most all old, shackly, dried up frame concerns that hadn’t ever been painted; they was set up three or four foot above ground on stilts, so as to be out of reach of the water when the river was over-flowed. The houses had little gardens around them, but they didn’t seem to raise hardly anything in them but jimpson-weeds, and sunflowers, and ash piles, and old curled-up boots and shoes, and pieces of bottles, and rags, and played-out tinware. The fences was made of different kinds of boards, nailed on at different times; and they leaned every which way, and had gates that didn’t generly have but one hinge—a leather one.” This poverty seems to create a sort of lawlessness, as well as an inherent moral decay in many of its citizens.

It is also implied that these kinds of people enjoy watching dogfights, and setting the tails of strays on fire. Interestingly, although Mark Twain took many jabs at the hypocrisy of Southern Christians, no church of any kind is mentioned in this town. However, there is hypocrisy in the form of the town’s judicial system, which appears to consist solely of the sheriff, Colonel Sherburn. This sheriff exercised his authority by murdering an unarmed old man, Boggs, for no reason other than an