Superstition In Huckleberry Finn

People often hesitate to accept what they do not understand. In the absence of love and compassion, it is no question that fear, ignorance, and hatred, all contribute to a melting pot of negativity in the world. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, is about the love and friendship cultivated by a young boy and a black slave on the Mississippi River. Despite the pair’s differences, they are able to endure the struggles and difficulties that the toilsome journey brings. Mark Twain, in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, emphasizes the shift in Huck’s view towards slavery by contrasting Huck’s initial tone of reflectiveness to his assertive tone, both collectively addressing the issue of racism in society.

It is hard to turn on the news today without being reminded that the world that we live in still has distinct traces of racism from bygone eras, with racially charged protests towards police brutality and accountability. Racism can affect many different groups of people and can be expressed in countless ways. While we have made advances in the treatment and relative equality of others, remnants of a racist time are lodged within our society. Mark Twain’s novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” can be seens as one such remnant, due to its portrayal and attitude towards African Americans. Mark Twain writes the character Jim to be what was a stereotypical African American slave in the mid nineteenth

When taking a look at Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, racism is a large theme that seems to be reoccurring. What some may think to be racism in Twain's words, can also be explained as, good story telling appropriate to the era the story takes place in.

Huck and Tom were sneaking out and Jim wanted to know who was outside so he waited and waited and later fell asleep outside. They found him outside and hug his hat on a tree and Jim thought that there were witches. He said this in order to get money and fame. Jim kept making these false accusations and even Huck fell into one. Jim was using an "hair-ball" (Twain, 24) to tell fortunes in order to receive money.

In Chapter ten, Jim and Huck are arguing and somehow Jim says that it is bad luck to touch a snakeskin with your hands. Huck didn’t believe Jim because they have found money in an overcoat they took, then Jim say that Huck is going to get it very soon. Jim knew that karma is coming towards pretty soon, then another snake comes up from behind and bites Jim right on the feet while sleeping. This gave reasons to believe in superstition, because of Huckleberry Finn touching the snakeskin that he got bit by a snake. Jim is a very superstitious human being and in the novel Jim predicts another superstition. Jim predicts that it will rain from seeing birds’ jumping what Huck says is that he will catch a small bird. Jim said it was death, he said that his father laid mighty sick one time, and some of them caught some birds, and his granny said his father would come to his death, which in the end he did.

In the novel, Huckleberry Finn, the two characters Jim and Huck grow closer than ever over their crazy adventure on the little raft. It all of their connections start because of the prank, the silly rattlesnake prank. Jim felt touched that Huck cared enough to feel a lot of remorse after his prank that the next part of the book Jim tells him a personal story about his child. Overall, the prank that was to just start out a novel had evolved into a great friendship between a traditional southern boy, and a slave who desires his freedom. They endure multiple problems together, and seem to always be there for each other, all because of the trust built from a ridiculous snake prank.

In the fourth chapter Huck sees Pap's footprints in the snow. So Huck goes to Jim to ask him why Pap is there. Jim gets a hair-ball that is the size of a fist that he took from an ox's stomach. Jim asks the hair-ball; “Why is Pap here?” But the hair-ball won't answer. Jim says it needs money, so Huck gives Jim a counterfeit quarter. The counterfeit quarter allows the reader to ponder the thought that Jim and Huck are superstitious, yet they still cheat the superstition like it doesn’t exist. Almost as if being superstitious is such a normal attribute that Huck and Jim don’t know they’re superstitious. Jim puts the quarter under the hair-ball. The hair-ball talks to Jim and Jim repeats it back to Huck. "Yo'ole father doan' know yit what he's a-gwyne to do" (19). Jim tells Huck that he’s going to have many troubles in his life, but also considerable joy. Also, that he’s going to get sick, but always recover healthy and that he’s going to marry first a poor woman, then a rich one. If a person knows, or think they know how their life is going to turn out life can go two ways: they could come to a

Huck lays a joke on Jim, “ I went to the cavern to get some, and found a rattlesnake in there. I killed him, and curled him up on the foot of Jim’s blanket... I forgot about the snake, and when Jim flung himself down on the blanket while I struck a light, the snake’s mate was there, and bite him,”(Twain 82). Jim was very angry about what has happened. Huck was very immature of doing this and shouldn't have taken it so lightly putting a snake on the blanket.

He is quick to trust what people are telling him because he figures they know more than he does so they must be right. Jim, the African-American slave Huck runs away with, believes good and bad luck; Huck tends to agree with him throughout their journey together. Towards the beginning of their trip, Huck touches a dead snake’s skin and is reprimanded by Jim because it will bring bad luck (48-49). Huck does not think to challenge this, and the two of them regret his mistake in the future when they have misfortune

Every idea is passed down orally. Jim, Huck’s friend, believes strongly in superstition as he passes some of these ideas to Huck. “Jim said the witches bewitched him and put him in a trance.” No one knows if Jim was actually bewitched by witches, but people believe him. Jim knows the difference between right and wrong by believing in superstitious ideas.

There are several pranks or tricks that Huck plays on Jim. One of these tricks was the snake trick. Huck pranks Jim by leaving a dead rattlesnake at the foot of his mat. Later that

Ironically, Jim tells Huck to “keep ‘way fum de water as much as you kin”(p.18) because it would be where Huck would die, yet in most of the book, Huck travels by water and survives his dangerous experiences. This also further proves the hairball fortune to be a scam, as the fortune is proven wrong by the later events of the book. Twain uses Jim’s scam in order to satirize the idea that blacks are stupid and ridicule one of the many racists beliefs by whites. With this satirization, Twain hopes that his audience will see that the common stereotypes that are given to blacks may not be true and that they should not be treated unfairly as a result of this racist thinking.

If you're up to date with today's current events or watch the news every morning before work, I'm sure you're familiar with the concepts of racism and violence. Unfortunately, both occur everyday in today's society, just as regularly as they did in the 1840s. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is as novel written by Mark Twain that references racism and violence in the time era that it was written. The main character of the book, Huck Finn, has a violent relationship with his father. His father, like many other citizens in his town, is a racist. Huck’s Aunt Sally, who is letting Huck temporarily stay with her, is racist as well. Meanwhile, a runaway slave named Jim is tagging along with Huck throughout the story. Society has not changed since 1840 because many similar instances such as violence and racism, occur today.

The relationship between Huck and Jim is developing into friendship. As a prank, Huck places a dead snake by Jim’s bed. Little did Huck know, the snakes mate would come to find it later on. This shows that Huck is thinking of Jim as a friend or a brother. Huck’s intentions are not to hurt Jim, so the readers know that he is doing this out of humor.

A person’s looks can not determine how they feel about a certain race of people. Some of the nicest looking peoples harbor deep feelings of hatred towards races other than their own. Characters like Aunt sally, Uncle Earl, and Miss Watson all seem like very nice people, but they all accept and participate in, whether they realize it or not, racism. Almost all of the characters in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain seem to have pre-conceived ideas towards blacks, and the author does not seem to have any trouble writing the words of their pre-conceived thoughts or ideas. Mark Twain has an accepting attitude towards racism in his book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.