In certain lower socio-economic classes, especially in rural areas, parents--particularly fathers--did not want their sons to rise above them in education or social standing for fear that the son feel himself superior to the parent. It is this class of cruelly obstinate man that Mark Twain, author of "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," satirizes in the above passage.
With Pa's epithet of "smarty" to Huck, there is an indication that this fear exists in him. In addition, his words, "I never seen such a son" indicate that he desires his son to reamain beneath him. An abusive parent, he wishes to dominate his son; certainly, he does not want Huck telling him how better to do things. And, regarding his prohibition of religious education, as a heavy drinker, Pa does not want any moralizing or attempts at reforming him. One is reminded in this passage of Jerry Cruncher of Charles Dickens's "A Tale of Two Cities," who forbids his wife to pray against his lucrative night job of grave-robbing, by yelling at her to stop "flopping."
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