The Themes Of Superstition In The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

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In the novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn superstition plays a big role. Superstition affects many of the characters and their decisions in the book. Superstition can affect the way we think, much like many of the characters in the book. For example, the rattlesnake skin that Huckleberry touches that brings Huckleberry and Jim sorts of good and bad luck. It is Huckleberry and Jim’s mutual belief in superstition that draws them together in the book. Their belief in certain superstitions help Huckleberry and Jim both explain certain things that they can not explain otherwise. Superstition can affect us daily, some examples of superstition would be, the way that we think can affect our futures, the way that we look at things, and what …show more content…

For example, a slave that Huckleberry and Tom talk to on their adventure, rather than used his problem solving skills to figure out that Huckleberry and Tom already knew, he automatically assumed it was witches. "Oh, it's de dad-blame' witches, sah..."(Twain, 237). If he had not believed in his superstition then, he would have figured out that something suspicious was up. Another time is when the slave is oblivious to what is going on when Huckleberry and Tom forgot to fasten the door and the dogs ended up getting into the house. “Mars Sid, you'll say I's a fool but if I din't b'lieve I see most a million dogs er devils, er some'n…”(Twain, 250). Once again, the slave blames it on the witches. Instead of thinking through the …show more content…

Superstition had been around us for a long time. Salt for instance, “One morning I happened to turn over the salt-cellar at breakfast. I reached for some of it as quick as I could to throw over my left shoulder and keep off the bad luck…”(Twain, 15). Huckleberry believed something bad was going to happen to him because he had spilled that salt. Huckleberry wanted to throw the salt over his shoulder to ward off any evil spirits. Showing that his superstition affected him so greatly that he immediately wanted to throw salt over his

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