RELIGION

HOW RELIGION IS PRESENTED

Twain uses satire to poke fun at religion

-Religion is taken too seriously

-Religious people are hypocrites

He introduces the novel with a scene of Miss Watson and Huck.
"After supper she got out her book and learned me about Moses and the Bulrushers; and I was in a sweat to find out all about him" (Twain 4).

Since Huck is a rational person, he doesn't see the use in taking religion as seriously as Miss Watson; learning about a man who has been dead for centuries has no benefit to him. He thinks that Miss Watson trying to teach him about Moses is absurd.

WHAT TWAIN SAYS ABOUT RELIGION

RELIGIOUS PEOPLE ARE HYPOCRITES
"Here she was bothering about Moses, which was no kin to her, and no use to anybody, being gone, you see, yet finding the power of fault with me for doing a thing that had some good in it. And she took a snuff too; of course that was all right, because she done it herself" (Twain 4).

Twain introduces the idea of Christian hypocrisy early in the novel. Here, Huck asks Miss Watson, a strict religious person, if he can smoke. She responds with no, and tells him that it's a bad habit, but then takes a "snuff" herself (Twain 4). This scene shows the religious person contradicting herself.

SLAVERY

In the 1800's, every family had slaves to watch their children, clean their house, or do anything they needed.
The entire journey Huck and Jim go on is for Jim's freedom. Jim found out that his owner was going to sell him down in New Orleans and decides to run. Jim states that once he's free he'll get rich and buy his family back.

CHRISTIANS USED THEIR FAITH TO JUSTIFY SLAVERY

• They were saving Africans from themselves
• Trying to civilize them
• Bring them to Christianity

Twain uses ironic scenes to portray the hypocrisy found in Christians.

"Next Sunday we all went to church, about three mile, everybody a-horseback. The men took their guns along, so did Buck, and kept the, between their knees or stood the, against the wall. The Shepherdsons done the same. It was all pretty ornery preaching-all about brotherly love..." (Twain 112).

The church scene is ironic because the sermon is on brotherly love and the two families have their guns with them.

The Grangerfords and Shepherdsons, aside from bringing their weapons to church, also end up killing each other. The Ten Commandments state "Thou shall not murder" and to "Love one another as you love yourself" but the families disregard that and eventually end the feud by killing each other.

These two Christian families live up to Twain's belief. The Grangerfords and Shepherdsons have had a grudge between them for so long, that they can't even remember the reasoning behind it.
These two families are hypocrites because they are supposed to be forgiving and loving towards each other, but instead murder each other.

MODERN DAY CONNECTION
Through the novel, Twain tells the audience that religious people are often seen as hypocritical. We can see the same affectation in the Catholic Church today: Priests sexual abuse and same sex marriage issues.

The Church is supposed to be a loving and caring place. Instead our leaders have violated the sacredness of childhood purity and have ostracized homosexuals.

Untitled Slide

Twain's message about religion is a timeless argument.
We can still see the hypocrisy embedded in religion today.
We can infer that this is the reason why Huck is not religious. He is a rational character who wants to stay true to himself.

THE END