Superstitions and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Even though the Pre-Civil War classic THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN contains humorous passages, Mark Twain's main purpose in writing the novel involves criticizing mankind and society. Frequently, in the course of the novel, Twain addresses the theme of superstition.
Twain uses Jim and Huck to show the readers of the common superstitious thoughts of the people in this time period. First, at the beginning of the novel Huck was sitting in his room and he lit a candle. He was so lonesome he wished he was dead. He tried to think of something cheerful but it was no use. As he was sitting in his room a spider crawled up his shoulder and he flicked it off into the candle flame and it shriveled up and died. "I didn't need anybody to tell me that that was an awful bad sign and would fetch me some bad luck" (Twain 5). .
Next, Twain uses superstition through Jim. Jim was the main superstitious character in the book. One example of this would be when Jim fetched a hairball from the fourth stomach of an ox. Jim actually believed that this hairball could do magic and that it knew everything. When Huck found tracks to his fathers shoe he went straight to Jim and his hairball. "He said it would tell my whole fortune if I wanted it to" (18).
Another superstitious moment for Jim is when he believes that the snake-skin that Huck touched brought bad luck to not only Huck, but Jim also. There are numerous instances in the novel where Jim blames the snakeskin on bad things that happened. "You said it was the worst bad luck in the world to touch a snake-skin with my hands" (51). .
Often in Twain's literature, he uses the theme of superstition to show the reader the reality of this time period. Throughout the novel Jim shows us his superstitious side by his remarks to just about every bad thing that Huck does. Jim seems to think that every time something out of the ordinary happens, it is a bad omen or bad luck.