Religion In Huckleberry Finn

Religion in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn In the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, religion is a major topic that impacts the book. However, it is generally the characters with religious backgrounds that are not very well represented throughout the story. Aunt Sally and Widow Douglas, for example, are both slave owners but are still firm believers in Christianity. Huck, on the other hand, is the protagonist of the story and does not really believe religion is important to life at all. He even goes to the lengths of saying that it is more of a waste of time than anything else. As a matter of fact, Huck even states that he would rather go to the “bad place” because the “good place” would be too boring. In a near mocking …show more content…
The story takes place in the mid 1800’s, where slavery is legal and society believes this is what the Bible tells them is okay. In Exodus 21:6 it states “then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.” Many took this to say that slavery is not only generally accepted in the bible, but profitable, and believe it or not socially ethical. Miss Watson, is one of the two wealthy sisters that adopt Huck. She tries to force religion on Huck multiple times. Alternatively this causes Huck to be pushed further away. He believes that prayer is a complete and utter waste of time. Moreover, Huck states that he would rather go to hell than heaven (2), because heaven would bore him. Later in the story Huck steals Jim out of slavery, and ironically this is looked at as an act of defiance against the lord. While believing in God is good, Huck going against the teachings of “The Word” is more noble than anything else. This is due to the false interpretations of the bible, and lack of decency towards humans in the slave era. Twain does an incredible job of highlighting the hypocrisy in the church of that time. Through not only Hucks ironic Christ like acts of defiance against society and the church, but also his guardians’ religious teachings that are mortally flawed, it is …show more content…
While Jim himself is very bright, he also has a strange concept of “religion”. He knows that he wants to go to the good place, but he will not invest his time in prayer. Furthermore, he is very superstitious which christianity is wholeheartedly against (8). Several times throughout the book he is found doing strange rituals that if he does not complete, he fears something of misfortune will happen. Jim is also a firm believer in witchcraft, he tells stories of witches “bewitching him.” This, while making him more popular among slaves does not expedite his goal of making it to the “good place”. Nonetheless Jim has a good heart, and while uneducated he is also a kind and mature grown