Literary Analysis of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Essay

In huckleberry Finn there are several themes. thither are themes of racism and slavery, civilized society, survival, water system imagery, and the peerless I will be discussing, superstition ( SparkNotes Editors). Superstition is a picture or practice reticuloendothelial systemulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trustingness in magic or chance, or a false conception of condition (Merriam-Webster). Superstition was a very frequent theme in huckleberry Finn that you saying throughout the story. huck was roughwhat superstitious, but Jim give tongue tos a wide range of superstition and mob tales.In the story it makes Jim seem as if he is unintelligent, when really his superstitions and beliefs write out square and shows he is a wise person. At first, huckaback thinks Jims superstitions are misguided and silly, but he eventually starts to hold Jims outlook and knowledge on life. Jims superstition was accepted as social teachings as well as being the adult figure in huckabacks life (SparkNotes Editors). 1 of the first durations I saw superstition in the story was hucks superstition of sorry caboodle. pretty soon a spider went move up my shoulder, and I flipped it make and it illume in the candle and before I could budge it was all shriveled up.I didnt need anybody to tell me that was an rattling(a) high-risk sign and would fetch me some take toless caboodle, so I was shake and most shook the clothes off me. I got up and turned about in my tracks three seasons and traverse my breast everytime and then(prenominal) I trussed up a little hire of my pigsbreadth with a thread to book witches away ( mates 110). A nonher time Hucks superstition of unspeak up to(p) slew was shown in the story was when he accidentally spilled season at breakfast. wizard morning I happened to turn oer the salt cellar at breakfast.I reached for some of it as quick as I could, to throw over my left hand shoulder and keep off the bad muckle, bu t Miss Watson was in the ahead of me, and crossed me off ( Twain 117). Because Huck was non able to throw the salt over his shoulder, he was very disquieted and nervous all day because he knew he would encounter bad luck sooner or later. The first time Huck went to get superstitious advice from Jim is when he went to ask Jim when his don would be move in his life. He had already seen his fathers tracks in the snow and knew he would be coming real soon.He wanted to know what his father was loss to do and how longwas he expiration to stay. Huck heard Jim had a hair ball that was taken out of a stomach of an ox, that he used to do magic with. The hair ball supposedly had a spirit in it that knew everything. The hair ball told Jim about Hucks father and Jim told Huck, Yo ole father doan know, yit, what hes a-gwyne to do.Sometimes he spec hell go way, en den agin he spec hell stay. De bes way is to res easy en let de ole cosmos take his own way ( Twain 119). He then began to t ell Huck his father had two angels over him. A white, shiny angel that tells him to do right on and a dark angel that tells him to do wrong.He told Huck that he to a fault has two angels over him that does the same, and that nobody knows which one is going to get you in the end. This component part of the story showed me Jim wasnt as zany and stupid as everybody thought he was, he was actually wise. That darkness when Huck returned home his father was waiting for him in his bedroom. Once Huck ran away to the island and institute Jim ran away too and they discovered the jobless opus, who happened to be Hucks father, Huck wanted to discuss the deadened man but Jim warned him it was bad luck for them to clack about a dead man. He say it would fetch bad luck and besides, he give tongue to, he office come and hant us he said a man that warnt buried was more likely to go a-hanting around than one that was planted and agreeable ( Twain 139). Huck thought Jim make sense and re spected him enough not to bring it up again. Huck then brought up to Jim, when he found the snake-skin the different day, Jim said it was the worst bad luck to touch snake skin. Huck did not deal they would experience any bad luck because they had experienced so a great deal good luck with finding the planetary house with all the goods and money they came across.Jim told him not to speak of it and he said the bad luck would still come, and it did come later that week. Huck decided to play a charade on Jim and put a dead rattlesnake in Jims concealment to scare him. When Jim laid down that night the snakes mate was in his blanket and bit Jim on the heel. Jim was screwball in bed for four age and Huck never told him he was the one who played the trick on him. He swore to himself he would never pick up a snake skin again, and Jim said to Huck maybe he would believe him next time and there might still be some bad luck to come.The theme of superstition in The Adventures of Huckle berry Finn is related to confide and fear. Jims hope and fear was that he would finally be free and his fear was that he would be captured and forced back into slavery. Hucks hope was that he would be able to live his life without having to be in fear of his father and also that he would not have to live a sivilized lifestyle with the widow and Miss Watson. Everybody has hope and fear about something, and deals with it differently.Jim and Huck dealed with it by believing in superstition. Work Cited rapscallion Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The Norton Anthology American Literature. Seventh Ed. Vol. C. Nina Baym. New York W. W. Norton & Comapny, Inc. , 2007. Print. SparkNotes Editors. SparkNote on The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. SparkNotes. com. SparkNotes LLC. 2002. Web. 5 Feb. 2011. www. merriam-webster. com/dictionary/superstition. Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, 2011. Web. 5 Feb 2011.