ated by her prayer meeting with the slaves. Miss Watson dutifully respects the religious custom of evening prayer, yet at the same time sees nothing wrong with "owning" other people. The two sisters' one redeeming quality is their concern for Huck, which, though it possesses moralistic overtones, includes an element of sincerity, giving them some patience in dealing with the "uncivilized" Huck. Other than this, the sisters' role is to represent the artificial, empty civilization to which Huck stands in contrast. Thus, they serve as foils to the character of Huckleberry. Their artifice and hypocrisy contrast sharply with Huck's natural sincerity, and so serve to highlight Huck's qualities. Huck's recognition of the hypocrisies and absurdities of the society represented by the Widow and Miss Watson, and his preference for nature and his own natural impulses, bring out the novel's theme. Huckleberry Finn is about how society tends to corrupt true morality, freedom, and justice, which exist in nature, and how the individual must follow his or her own conscience. Chapter One establishes the corruption of the society in which Huck lives. That society stifles freedom--in a small sense through its restrictive clothing and manners, and in a larger sense through the institution of slavery--and also morality and justice, with its absurd religion, hypocritical taboos, and, again, the institution of slavery. Quite a few critics have characterized Twain's deep distrust in society as "pessimistic." Yet it is important to remember that Twain maintains full confidence in the existence of morality, freedom, justice, and other absolutes. In fact, they transcend society's most flagrant transgressions of them, awaiting proper recognition by the attuned individual. Huckleberry is not only the protagonist, but the narrator of the entire book. That is, the book uses first-person narration. The reader only finds out about anything once Huck does (though this do...
