Religion In The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

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With a rather critical look at American culture and religion Mark Twain wrote The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, which is known as the novel all American stories are based off of. He uses beautiful imagery paired with in-depth descriptions to outline the story of a young boy and a runaway slave escaping their current homes in search of freedom and family. Huckleberry Finn; the young boy and main character, is an ¨outsider” to the institutionalized religion that is prevalent throughout this book. This outside look in on religion, enforced by the 1st person point of view, helps to reveal the flaws within the frequently misunderstood religion that most of the characters claim to abide by. Misunderstanding one's own religion that leads to traits …show more content…

This deep interconnection between a person and their religion opens a window for exploitation. By using religion to one's own advantage, they are able to corrupt and manipulate the followers of said religion. In ¨Huckleberry Finn¨ the blatant ¨kings¨ of manipulation are the King and the Duke; two conmen who quickly went from attempting to scam each other to banning together in order to swindle the townspeople out of house and home. As Huckleberry and the king come up on a religious gathering attended by almost the whole town the King can’t help but take advantage of the situation for his own personal gain. While the crowd listens to the preacher and begins to get excited and worked up the King takes over the stage in order to convince them he was a reborn man now due to the fact his pirate ship and belongings had been stolen. By exploiting the citizens and their belief that he had truly changed for the better and desired to convert others the citizens themselves suggested they “take up a collection for him!” in order to aid the King in his seemingly noble cause. In this instance the King is capitalizing on their willingness to give due to their affinity towards persons involved in the same religion. While they are riled up and yelling in the name of their faith the King sees lack of critical thinking stemming from the excitement and takes action; lying and manipulating them to not only feel bad. but feel compelled to give as well. The King took advantage of the citizens faith in their time of worship and he took advantage of their faith in a time of

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