Huck Finn Blog Post #1

At the beginning of the novel, Huck seems to be very superstitious in his ways. Huck kills a spider and is convinced that it is a horrible sign of bad luck. “I got up and turned around in my tracks three times and crossed my breast every time; and then I tied up a little lock of my hair with a thread to keep witches away” (Twain 13). After Huck had killed the spider he turned three times, crossed his breast, and tied up his hair to shoo away the bad luck and witches. He seemed pretty timid compared to the adventurous boy I was expecting to read about. However, later in the novel he is not afraid of a superstition that Jim believes in.  “’You said it was the worst bad luck in the world to touch a snakeskin with my hands’” (Twain 59). After Huck had touched the snakeskin, they had found eight dollars. Then, Huck believed that the snakeskin had brought them great luck. But, later in the chapter the bad luck found them when Jim was bitten by a rattlesnake and was not able to walk for a few days.

Another impression I had about Huck is that he wanted to be independent but he could not make a decision without thinking about what Tom Sawyer would have done first. Tom always led Huck to make bad decisions though. Huck joined Tom’s gang of robbers and murderers, and Huck was ready to live that life just because it was one of Tom’s grand ideas. Huck also said that if Tom was going to Hell so was he. Even though Huck wanted to live on his own and be independent, he was always so lonely. “I was ever so glad to see Jim. I warn’t lonesome now” (Twain 49). Huck was so happy to see Jim just so he could have someone to talk to, someone to confide in. Jim and Huck seemed like a good team and I was happy for Huck to have some company and help living in the woods. However, I thought that it was kind of ironic that Huck did not want anyone to know where he was but, he was miserable and lonely until he found Jim on the island.