RELIGION AND SUPERSTITION

RELIGION

WHAT CHARACTERS HAVE OPINIONS ON RELIGION?

• Huck
• Pap
• The Widow
• Jim

HUCK'S OPINION ON RELIGION

• Huck doesn't care for religion.
• Huck is uninterested in prayer.
• Huck's opinion of religion has not changed throughout the novel.

PAP'S OPINION ON RELIGION

• He doesn't have an opinion at all about religion.
• He doesn't have a lot of knowledge on religion.

THE WIDOW'S OPINION ON RELIGION

• The Widow has an extremely serious opinion about religion.
• She takes prayer seriously.
• She tries to influence Huck to pray more and take religion seriously.

JIM'S OPINION ON RELIGION

• Jim believes in what he knows although it isn't much.
• His opinion on religion has unintentionally influenced Huck slightly.

HAVE ANY OF THE CHARACTERS CHANGED RELIGIOUSLY?

• Huck has gained more knowledge but has not become more religious.
• Pap is opened up to the idea of religion but cares nothing for it.

WHAT DOES TWAIN INTEND TO MAKE THE AUDIENCE RECOGNIZE WITH THIS THEME?

• It is meant to be recognized as a major part of everyday lives.
• He tries to have people understand that in this time period, religion was a large part of society.

SUPERSTITION

Jim's uneducated, but most of his superstitions come true. Huck's superstitions are more child-ish. Both of their superstitions bring them bad luck.

Examples:
Jim's Example: Tom put Jim's hat on a limb then Jim thinks is the wiches bewitched him.
Huck's: I knowed might well that a drowned man didn't float on his back, but on his face. So I knowed, then, that this warn't pap, but a woman dressed up in man's clothes.

What did Twain intend to make the audience recognize with this theme?

I don't know what Mr. Twain intended but I think he is a critic of superstition. I don't know why, just feel like it. I think it's included to show that society isn't always right, and that sometimes the old-fashioned and "traditional" views of society are wrong (slavery).