In Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Religion is a reoccurring theme. It shows up time and time again through various characters and thematic situations. Each individual character has a differing view of religion, but they all show Twain’s individual views of the topic. He uses the people of differing levels of faith, and various backgrounds to make his opinion clear. Twain has an incredibly cold view on religion, as the novel progresses it becomes apparent that no good can come from spirituality in Mark Twain’s eyes. Twain goes as far as making a mockery of religion. From Huck saying he would much rather go to Hell than Heaven, to the villagers blinded by faith when the king collects money from the church to convert his pirate
…show more content…
Pap is a unique character because he is one of, if not the only character with a completely negative connotation. Pap is a drunkard who could not raise his own son, and the whole town has deeply rooted feelings of mistrust, and disgust about him. Naturally anything a character with such a heavy presence says is serious. Pap rejects religion, and wants his son far from it. He says, “First you know you’ll get religion, too. I never seen such a son.”(22 ch.5) Pap puts religion up with school and frills and things that make a man meek. Though in today we as a culture do not associate those things with meekness in Huck’s time they did. Moreover by the time this quote comes up the reader is already rooting for Huck, and wants him to be free of the constraints of society. The reader wants Huck to escape from the religion that drags him down. This becomes a turning point. It is where the reader first begins to see that Huck is making his escape. Twain goes as far as to use religion as a form of rebellion when Huck decides to go back to school, he does it not out of his own willingness to learn but in order to spite pap. Twain also uses Pap to display another different religious factor. He shows that religion is unavoidable even to someone like Pap. In one of Pap’s alcohol driven rants Pap begins to suffer from alcohol psychosis. Twain
Pap is a unique character because he is one of, if not the only character with a completely negative connotation. Pap is a drunkard who could not raise his own son, and the whole town has deeply rooted feelings of mistrust, and disgust about him. Naturally anything a character with such a heavy presence says is serious. Pap rejects religion, and wants his son far from it. He says, “First you know you’ll get religion, too. I never seen such a son.”(22 ch.5) Pap puts religion up with school and frills and things that make a man meek. Though in today we as a culture do not associate those things with meekness in Huck’s time they did. Moreover by the time this quote comes up the reader is already rooting for Huck, and wants him to be free of the constraints of society. The reader wants Huck to escape from the religion that drags him down. This becomes a turning point. It is where the reader first begins to see that Huck is making his escape. Twain goes as far as to use religion as a form of rebellion when Huck decides to go back to school, he does it not out of his own willingness to learn but in order to spite pap. Twain also uses Pap to display another different religious factor. He shows that religion is unavoidable even to someone like Pap. In one of Pap’s alcohol driven rants Pap begins to suffer from alcohol psychosis. Twain