What is the irony in the widow’s actions as shown in the passage? the widow insists that smoking is a mean and unclean practice. the widow declares a habit unfit for huck while having a similar habit herself. she is more interested in moses and other stories from the bible than huckleberry. she pretends to be a caring woman, but she only finds fault in huckleberry. the adventures of huckleberry finn by mark twain (excerpt) pretty soon i wanted to smoke, and asked the widow to let me. but she wouldn't. she said it was a mean practice and wasn't clean, and i must try to not do it any more. that is just the way with some people. they get down on a thing when they don't know nothing about it. here she was a-bothering about moses, which was no kin to her, and no use to anybody, being gone, you see, yet finding a power of fault with me for doing a thing that had some good in it. and she took snuff, too; of course that was all right, because she done it herself.