Huckleberry Finn Religion Analysis

Religion is one of the most constant targets of Twain's satirical pen. In Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain portrays contemporary religion as shallow and hypocritical. He criticizes the hypocrisy of conventional religion by comparing it with the true religion of Huck.

In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain mocked the social institution of organized religion. He also mocked slavery, which in that era, was supported by organized religion. Twain protested slavery and organized religion by using his writings to make fun of them as well. In doing so, he invited readers to laugh at society’s crimes. Maybe he hoped that his satirical exposure of what he believed to be wrong with America would incite readers to a change in societal behaviors and expectations.

Huckleberry Finn is the story of a young boy that constantly finds himself to be in predicaments that are escaped with lies. One of his biggest ploits is running away from his neglectful father.

Huckleberry Finn is a young a boy who comes from the lowest levels of white society. Huckleberry Finn lost so many close things. For instance, he did not have a mother around to take care of him and love him. His father was known for being drunk all the time throughout this novel. Huck Finn, went on adventures, but he always went to church. Mark Twain, used biblical reference, since religion was a big part in the south; he used mythological references, and some references to the book, “How to Read Literature Like a Professor”.

Widow Douglas and Miss Watson teach Huck about proper manners and religion. Huck says he wants to go to Hell because it is more exciting. Miss Watson says that is a terrible thing to say and she explains the difference between Heaven and Hell. Miss Watson says she is “ … going to live so as to go to the good place” (Twain 1291). Miss Watson says she wants to live morally and good in the eyes of God but she embraces the Southern tradition of owning slaves. Tom Sawyer's Uncle, Silas Phelps, built a church on his plantation so he has a place to preach. His church is also used as a school and Silas never charges anyone who uses it. His preachings are always free. His wife, Sally, sees someone walking with Huck and sets up another plate without knowing who this person is (Twain 1426). The Phelps family also participates in the institution of slavery. They bought Jim for forty dollars and chained him up in a hut on the plantation. The Bible teaches that all men are made in the image of God but Miss Watson and Silas view slaves as property. Mark Twain uses Silas and Miss Watson to show the hypocrisy within christian societies.

Often called sentimental Christianity for its insistence on love, suffering, and gentle pleas for gradual reform, this is the Christianity that Twain gravitated toward as an alternative to the strict Calvinist Presbyterianism of his mother. In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Tom's gradual moral development through his sympathy for Becky Thatcher or Muff Potter, and in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, in Huck's gradual development from pure selfishness to caring for Jim, for the Phelps girls, and for the Grangerfords, Twain shows his affinity for this gentler form of Christianity. In fact, the Grangerfords's insistence on doctrine over brotherly love is the religious crime Twain's satire most energetically indicts. Huck, for all that he cannot understand the finer points of doctrine, understands the heart of

Miss Watson used The Bible to guide her through life. Unlike, Huck Finn who did not know if he believed in god yet and reacted more with brains. Mark Twain showed hypocrisy through Miss Watson when she would excuse her actions due to the fact she was a good Christian woman and prayed. This happened many times during the book but one was her owning slaves. Owning slaves was condemned in the bible but she did it anyway and thought praying and making the slaves pray would make it okay.

In Mark Twain's novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain concentrates on religion and slavery as a social issue that guides people's decisions and lifestyles. Twain satirizes organized religion and slavery through the eyes of a thirteen-year old boy named Huck Finn. Satire and hypocrisy allow readers to understand his opinions on the two topics. Throughout the novel, readers witness the growth of Huck as he battles his ideas of religion and freedom during his many ordeals. His decisions that he made while on his journeys on the Mississippi were impacted by his longing for liberty and the idea of Christianity. In this novel, Twain exploits religion through characters' decisions and exposes their hypocrisy to satirize religion, a critical issue of the past and present.

In the story Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain, Huck deals with religion throughout most of the story. He encounters a situation where he is tested on his knowledge of the bible,also runs into a town that is all religious and was fostered by a religious widow. What direction would this book take if Twain did not mention religion throughout this novel.

Mark Twain lives through Huckleberry Finn in his novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. His own perspective and opinions are portrayed throughout the story. Along with the value of the region and people vary throughout the story. Every given situation results in a different judgment and personal deduction. Therefore, resulting in many messages about how religion, alcoholism, and education influenced Mark Twain's emotions about the various topics.

Mark Twain’s personal ideas of religion. Huckleberry Finn has a very realistic outlook on life. He does not understand why people are interested in “dead people” in the Bible and he does not want to go to Heaven. Readers learn this early about Huck in the quote, “after supper she got out her book and learned me about Moses and the Bulrushers, and I was in a sweat to find out all about him; but by and by she let it out that Moses had been dead a considerable long time; so then I didn't care no more about him, because I don't take no stock in dead people.” (Twain)

People break rules despite how enforced they are, whether it is in books, movies, or real life. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne reveals through the actions of Hester Prynne, that the passion between Dimmesdale and herself overcomes religion, showing the tiny flaws in society. The Puritan society takes its ideas from religion too far and convicts the innocent for crimes they have not committed. Hester Prynne’s ignoring of these beliefs allows the people of society realize that what they did was taken too far. In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain portrays Huckleberry Finn and Jim as people who are refugees from their unfair society.

Clemens standpoint on religion leads to issues of morality for Huckleberry. Once Finn found out what happened to Jim, he said, “ All right, then, I’ll go to hell”,

Mark Twain was quick to express his criticisms of religion and how that is based too much on the actions of people long. He was not afraid to bring up the topic of religion in his writing; he mentioned Moses, heaven, and hell on the second page. Widow Douglas was teaching Huckleberry Finn about Moses and the Bull when she told how “ Moses had been dead a considerable long time; [when Huck expressed his thoughts] so then I didn’t care no more about him; because I don’t take no stock in dead people.” Most boys would be fascinated with epic stories from long ago. Twain is criticizing that much of

The emphasis of hypocrisy in the novel manifests within the first chapter when the inherent hypocrisy of the Widow Douglass becomes apparent and through logos Huck unveiling the righteous mask that Miss Watson hides her hypocrisy in to the reader, by stating “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…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…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 has done it herself.” (Pg. 2) The quotation very much explicates the hypocrisy Huck sees in the Widow Douglass chewing tobacco and not allowing him to smoke, the logic being they both utilize the same product, yet smoking is “dirty” and impure, but chewing tobacco somehow isn’t. This sentiment from the Widow Douglass displays how the Widow Douglass views herself as righteous (further seen in her reference to Moses), when in fact, she, by her own standards, suffers from the same contamination of impurity that she claims Huck accumulates by