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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Good points, Jackson.
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