Huck Finn Christianity

Huck Finn: Christianity’s Mob Instinct Essay, Research Paper

This paper was written by a junior in the Honors English program. It.s the goddamn hardest english class at the whole school. This paper received a borderline B plus, A minus in a 5.0 class, so it counts as a 4.0 on the grading scale. This is a quality bullshit paper, and if you believe its ideas, you must be an atheist like me, do not turn this in to a Christian teacher. Not only will it offend him, he will castrate you. Fortunately, my teacher is a nice guy, but a really tough grader. Enjoy this paper, and at least read it before you turn it in. It has errors in grammar, spelling, and probably punctuation. We make a lot of those when we get little sleep, and it.s late. It analyzes how Christianity causes people to mob together for no apparent reason at all. Just read the last sentence of the intro paragraph for the thesis statement. Have a nice day!

Life.s troubles embittered Mark Twain towards many institutions of society. In his novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain expresses these deep feelings with sarcasm, wit, and humor. Slavery stands out as the obvious target for his clever prose, but singling out slavery as his only detested institution defeats his one of his many points in this novel. He shows the reader howwe live in a hypocritical society. So many traditions and ingrained customs in our society contradict reasonable thought, yet we continue with our lives unaware of our stupidity. Twain decries Christianity.in this case followers of Christ. as one of these traditional but harmful institutions. In his eyes, the religion of Christianity strips humans of their individuality and self consciousness. Twain depicts Christians as gullible, and spineless fools; they appear just like any other mob in his book. This instinctual huddling of the masses leads Twain to write about our lack of motive or aspiration in our lives. He defiles our most sacred institution as a mob behind a man dead almost two millennia. With his clever writing and Huck.s characterization in the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain reveals Christians as a transparent and hypocritical mob of conformists.

Mark Twain.s crafty writing compares Christianity to any other lynching mob. The leaderless, spineless people follow along with no say and no desire to dictate their future. This mob instinct among humans occurs frequently, but rarely as strong as the bonds of Christianity. Twain portrays Christians as the same type of men Colonel Sherburn criticizes in his speech upon the balcony. These people desire leadership, because they hold little thought or ideas they can call their own. In society, people gather together to support someone else.s ideas, or, as Twain.s character Sherburn says:

You didn.t want to come. The average man don.t like trouble and danger. But if only half a man.shouts, .Lynch him! lynch him! you.re afraid to back down.afraid that you.ll be found out to be what you are.cowards.and so you raise a yell, and hang yourselves onto that half-a-man.s coat-tail, and come raging up here, swearing what big things you.re going to do. (146-7)

The intense fear of society.s disapproval of their actions looms too strongly in the lives of these people. An irritating self awareness of outward image infiltrates the conscience of the crowd, transforming the people into a mob. The awareness of unholiness devastates their confidence, convincing them to join the mob of Christians. What difference exists between collecting around one man and one book. Twain draws no line dictating a division between the lynch mob, and the mob of Christians at the revival. However, both parties find their peers. approval and praise through distinct means. Nevertheless, the appealing acceptance of the individual into the consolidated crowd still draws both groups into their instinctive mobs. Fear that .you.ll be found out to be what you are.cowards.. (147) molds the people into a mob. Peer pressure, a pressure to conform to your surroundings, matches this description well, and Twain cleverly demonstrates how our instincts to .fit in. as a worthy member of society lead us into situations we might normally avoid. Instead of the pressure to agree with others. actions, Christianity relies on its moral foundation to persuade the masses into believing. Bible followers stand behind the Good Book as a source of knowledge, truth, and ethics. Just like the Puritans. colonies, Christian.s .holier-than-thou. attitude challenges the public.s purity. Unwilling to back down from a challenge of this magnitude, many people conform to the religious way. After the mischievous Huck decides to confess his sins, and writes his letter to Miss Watson, he .felt good, and all washed clean of sin for the first time I had ever felt so in my life, and I knowed I could pray now.. (213) Through Huck.s inner struggle toward redemption in the eyes of the mob, Twain portrays how silly and immature Christianity appears when viewed in simple terms. Finn believes he can pray, because he confessed his sins, and therefore can redeem himself. In his own way, Huck exposes Christianity as a farce and a facade of spiritual holiness. His facade of Christianity breaks under the close scrutiny of the reader. Confusing acceptance by God with acceptance by Miss Watson, a member of the mob, demonstrates how the religion simply panders to other.s beliefs, not