Huck Finn's Sunday Service

Hey everyone, this is Jackson and unfortunately I was unable to make it to the MASC this week so instead I will discuss our current flavor of the month, the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  Specifically, the idea of good christian morals and how the idea of what those are conflicts with the characters actions.

From the very beginning we are introduced to characters such as Widow Douglas and Miss Watson who are trying to teach Huck good moral values and to observe practices such as prayers before dinner.  At the same time as she preaches her church values, she is fully willing to engage in the hunt for Jim and Huck and does not see any wrongdoing in killing a slave.  This illustrates the detachment from reality that seemed to pervade the era in that they quite literally didn't see slaves as humans and as such there was no penalty for their death.

Later on, we are introduced to the Grangerfords and Sheperdsons who are nice, god-fearing families who attend church every Sunday.  However, these families prescribe to a gospel of vengeance and are noted as bringing weapons to the service as a way of threatening each other over a feud whose beginning has been long forgotten.  Once again, we see how these characters can act in direct violation of their religions moral code, just because that's the way of things, or that's how it has always been.  I've never been much of a churchgoer but something seems inherently wrong with trying to shoot thy neighbor you have been directly commanded to love.

Twain does a remarkable job of weaving in the irony that those who are raised on good christian morals can be so easily blinded to their own actions and how they transgress those exact values.  He doesn't portray them as driven to wrongdoing, they're merely misguided.  This imparts to the reader that just because you were raised a certain way, doesn't mean you are in the right.  On top of this there are other religious themes in the book such as Jackson Island, a haven of solitude and protection for both Jim and Huck.  This island, detached from society as it is, is almost a metaphor for the Garden of Eden.  And, just like in the Garden of Eden, when Huck does something he shouldn't, (leaving the dead snake by Jim's leg) they are punished in turn by the snake, or the protector of Eden.

So, we see throughout the book a clear message from Twain.  Just because someone preaches something doesn't mean they follow it to the letter and that their actions speak truer than their honeyed sermons.  That's all for this post, hope you enjoyed reading!

-Jackson Zeiner
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            Should Huckleberry Finn be taught in today's classrooms? That is a question that Alvin Powell looked to solve when writing this article, Fight over Huck Finn continues: Ed School professor wages battle for Twain classic. Due to the repeated use of the 'N' word several teachers have pushed for the book to be removed from the curriculum and replaced by a more modern novel. Huckleberry Finn is an American icon of a novel, Mark Twain is regarded as one of the greatest writers of all times. One key individual is Jocelyn Chadwick, a professor at Harvard University, she is for keeping Huckleberry Finn in the classroom. She pushes that the only reason teachers or parents want the book removed from schools is, "is that parents and teachers who object to its inclusion in the curriculum sometimes view the text through a lens colored by their own experiences, or by their community's experiences, or by the strained present of race relations."

            This idea that the people objecting to the book are not thinking what is best for the children, but rather what would make them more comfortable. This article explains more into the debate, but in the end it comes down to the children. Should children be taught from the best possible source? or should we cater to what makes us comfortable and let the education fall to the wayside. Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn is one of the greatest novels in history. Students should not be prevented from learning from such a great piece, instead they should be striving to push the boundaries in search of an even greater novel.

 

This is David Akers

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