Examples Of Sin In Huckleberry Finn

Sin is defined as the separation from the source. Sin is something that encompasses every community and every person no matter how much favor God has on someone. In the Scarlet Letter and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, there is a clear line between the wilderness and civilization and the sin that encompasses their communities. The wilderness is the place where all the characters escape the rigorous rules and regulations of the society in which they were created to protect. For Hester and Pearl, the wilderness especially the forest is the place where the truth is set free and their sin is just a measly letter A. For Huck and Jim, the same outcome happens as in the wilderness, Huck finds out the worth of Jim. Throughout both novels it is evident …show more content…
For Hester, she was treated two different ways based on whether she was in civilization or in the wilderness. In society, she was portrayed and treated as a dirty sinner who would never see the forgiveness and glory of God, while on the contrary, community member would ask her to sew for them at her home. These are two completely different ways of being treated, because Hester was barely looked at in the community but in her home, she had value and people would respect her when they wanted something in return. For Dimmesdale, the forest was the only place that he could verbally confess his sins out loud. He was comfortable to be in the seclusion of the wilderness to state his sins, but he was ashamed of the judgement of the community if they too knew this sin. Hawthorne states, “Happy are you, Hester, that wear the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in secret” (Hawthorne 131). Dimmesdale suffered in the secret of the wilderness while Hester suffered in the public eye. But was the wilderness a true place of freedom? For Hester, the scarlet A upon her bosom was turned into a secret source of pride, but for Pearl the letter became her mother. Pearl couldn’t even recognize her mother in the forest when Hester took off the letter when she was talking to Mr. Dimmesdale. “Wilt thou come across the brook, and own they mother, now that she has her shame upon her…” (Hawthorne 145). Hester was never free from her oppression as Pearl would always pull her back into the reality of the scarlet letter. Hester never took the letter off but in the one case she did in the freedom of the woods, the Puritan’s punishment was thrust back upon her. For Huck, the time spent in the wilderness away from civilization is when he realized that Jim was a human being who had a kind heart. Civilization was constantly pounding the issue that black people were less important than white people but once