Religion in Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay

In the Adventure of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain uses satire to exemplify human weakness. Throughout the whole adventure, and even before departing from St. Petersburg, Huck comes face to face with a variety of people meant to deride the American person. Religious hypocrisy and its representation in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn establish one of Mark Twain’s greatest allegations with the American civilization.

Joel Cann says, “You don’t need religion to have morals. If you can’t determine right from wrong then you lack empathy, not religion.” In The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, a fifteen year old boy, Huckleberry Finn, experiences several situations of moral degradation in the 1800s. Huck has conflict with his conscience when he tries to follow his heart and not obtain the characteristics of a deformed society. Huck struggles morally when he encounters child abuse, dishonesty, and murder situations.

Religion, superstition, and racism are the three key themes in Mark Twain’s, the author, satirical book. Hemingway gives credit to Twain asserting that this book gives the reason that many other American literature were written, though he is a remarkable writer himself . This have being because this novel gives the essential seminar of hope, belief, and humility. The Old Man and the Sea, written by Hemingway, gives the same consultation as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. They both have similar examples of each seminar in their books, one being religion.

In the beginning of the story, after he got a lot of money in Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Huck felt restricted under Widow Douglas and Miss Watson and their Christian faith as he does not care about Christian rules and morality. This feeling of being confined is shown by Huck when he says he is not interested in the dead because they are “no good to anybody, being gone” (Twain) and he would go to Hell instead of Heaven because he “see no advantage in going where she was going” (Twain). His pleasure in knowing that Tom Sawyer is believed to be going to Hell (Twain) since that meant they will be together shows how he does not think about serious issues. He also call the black slave Jim a “nigger”(Twain) which shows his stereotype toward blacks at the time. Huck’s childhood mortality/mentality is shown to be based on self-interest and self-preservation shown by him avoiding further arguments with the widow about

The time frame his life falled in was, church was something you participated in every Sunday. In the novel, Huck was constantly battling the idea of religion. He was constantly in disagreement with Miss Watson when she was telling him to pray. Huckleberry says to himself, “If a body can get anything they pray for, why don’t Deacon Winn get his money he lost on pork?...No, says I to myself, there ain’t nothing in it.” (Twain, 1884, Pg 14) Without direct proof Huckleberry Finn keeps a more realistic or atheist view on his adventures. Until one situation, while he was with the Grangerford family, Huck found himself in a sermon with the Grangerfords and their disputing rivals; the two families brought weapons to church and Huckleberry Finn seemed absolutely repulsed by that act of interrupting the sermon. Likewise, there were plenty of ways to disrespect a sermon, not only bringing weapons to the church but coming completely intoxicated which a few had done in the

Mark Twain, author of Huckleberry Finn, seems love Missouri, however dislikes several things about the people that live there. Twain seems skeptical about religion due to Huckleberry Finn always being doubtful about it. His idea towards education implies that it is vital, however also is heavily flawed. Alcoholism in Huckleberry Finn is portrayed as unrestrained and that nothing positive comes froms alcohol consumption. These three aspects of human culture are all shown, however religion is the one that is the one that Finn thinks about the most frequently throughout the novel.

Often remarked as “The Great American Novel”, Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn explores a variety of themes involving race, morality, and religion that tackle the problems he faced in his day. He criticizes religion and its dogma by showing how easily influenced some characters become and Huck’s denial of it to illustrate the hypocrisy and lack of unique search for moral truth for many of its followers. Twain further expands on this negative idea of lacking independent thought by showing examples of groups of people making unwise decisions causing harm to themselves or others because they cannot think for themselves and instead follow the majority around them. Finally, he uses scenes where a single character may make an unoriginal

For some time Huckleberry Finn worked with the king and the duke, who were really just scoundrels. Even though they pretended to be retired kings and dukes, Huck knew they were not really who they said they were, yet he played along anyway. While being a poor choice to continue to work with

In an essay on the church penned by Mark Twain titled Bible Teaching and Religious Practice, he states, “The Church never corrects it; and also never fails to drop in at the tail of the procession - and take the credit of the correction. As she will presently do in this instance,” (“Bible Teaching and Religious Practice”). Burdened by slavery and yet disregarding the impacts, Twain writes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in an attempt to convey the atrocity that is southern slavery set upon by the church. Set in the early 1800’s, Twain’s acclaimed novel follows a young boy who goes on a life changing adventure with a slave named Jim, discovering new challenges and uncovering faults within an otherwise normal southern community. In the

Mark Twain reflects at his 67th birthday dinner, “[…] we were good Presbyterian boys when the weather was doubtful; when it was fair, we did wander a little from the fold” (Mark Twain Quotations – Religion). Here is one of the numerous instances throughout his life he speaks on religion. He has always been a critic of religion even though he was raised Presbyterian. His criticisms often show through in his writing. The boy that he speaks of at his birthday dinner is often similar to the characters in his books. For instance, in his work Adventures of Huckleberry Finn there are several instances where Mark Twain points out flaws through Huck about traditional concepts of religion.

In his heart, though being good means helping Jim escape from his captors, which is the choice he ultimately makes. In this way, society inhibits and mangles the growth of his strong moral compass, because he believes that he is going to hell, even though he also believes he made the right choice. Along with the issue of the morals society imposes on Huck follows the issue of slavery. At no point does Huck ever say he does not believe in slavery; on the contrary, he does, and also considers the idea of ownership valid. Huck does, however, learn that preserving the friendship between himself and Jim is something more sacred than the claim Jim's owner has to him.

Mark Twain said at his 67th birthday dinner, “[…] we were good Presbyterian boys when the weather was doubtful; when it was fair, we did wander a little from the fold.” Here he is criticizing people and how they are not strong followers of their own religions. Twain has always been a critic of religion and some its followers even though he grew up Presbyterian. His criticisms often show through in his writing. For instance, in his work Adventures of Huckleberry Finn there are several instances where Mark Twain points out flaws despite the fact most instances the religion and its followers actions had decent intentions.

A hackneyed expression is understood to be that one should never deliberate over religion or politics in specific social settings. Religion is and has always been a topic of serious controversy and indifference. Literature has become a major source of media in which religious sentiments are discussed. The description of one boy, Huck and his adventures allows Mark Twain the chance to convey Huck Finn’s perspective on religion to his readers. In his novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain uses such literary devices as satire, humor, and irony throughout his work to illustrate his distaste for religion and religious practices. In various scenes in the novel, Twain illustrates his animosity towards religion, as normally serious practices are portrayed as comical. Huckleberry Finn, the main character, is either directly involved in these scenarios or otherwise a viewer and subsequent narrator of these humorous events.

In the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, the pirate scene is satirized along with its playful skit of religion, the camp meeting shows a gullible audience that is swindled because of its faith. In the scene where the king joins the festival and claims to be an old pirate that has been reformed. The king says, “It was the blessed thing that ever happened to him, because he was a changed man now.” He plays the people as fools and proceeds to play out a sinful man turning righteous. The people are portrayed as unintelligent and faithful to the point that it blinds them from the truth. They follow anything one person says. One guy says pick up a collection for him and people act as if they will do anything for him. Huck says,”he was

From the beginning of his life, Mark Twain has questioned and condemned organized religion. In his book, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, he creates the character of Huck to be more logical than the rest of the characters. Importantly, Huck believes that religion is pointless. He uses multiple methods of satire to expose religious hypocrisy.