Huckleberry Finn
...y to earn honor, becomes a central theme that Huck will have to deal with. Food: The theme of food is one that occurs in many parts of the novel. It is based on the fact that Huck grew up fighting for food with pigs, eating out of "a barrel of odds and ends." Thus, whenever there is mention of food, it is a sign that Huck has someone to take care of him. For example, in the first chapter it is the Widow Douglas who feeds Huck. Later she is replaced by Jim, who takes care of Huck on Jackson's Island. Food is again mentioned when Huck lives with the Grangerfords and the Wilks. Mockery of Religion: Another theme, and probably one of Twain's favorites, is the mockery of religion. Twain tended to attack organized religion at every opportunity, and the sarcastic character of Huck Finn is perfectly situated to allow him to do so. The attack on religion can already be seen in the first chapter, when Huck indicates that hell sounds like a lot more fun than heaven. This will continue throughout the novel, with one prominent scene occurring when the "King" convinces a religious community to give him money so he can "convert" his pirate friends. Superstition: Superstition is a theme that both Huck and Jim bring up several times. Although both of these characters tend to be quite rational, they quickly become irrational when anything remotely superstitious happens to them. The role of superstition is two-fold: it shows that Huck and Jim are child-like in spite of their otherwise extremely mature characters. Second, it serves to foreshadow the plot at several key junctions. For example, spilling salt leads to Pa returning for Huck, and later Jim gets bitten by a rattlesnake after Huck touches a snakeskin with his hands. Slavery: Slavery forms one of the main themes that has been frequently debated since Huck Finn was first published. Twain himself was vehemently anti-slavery; Huckleberry Finn can in many ways be seen as an allegory for why slavery is wrong. Twain uses Jim, a slave who is one of the main characters, as a way of showing the human side of a slave. Everything about Jim is presented through emotions: Jim runs away because Miss Watson was going to sell him South and separate him from his family; Jim is trying to become free so he can buy his family's freedom; Jim takes care of Huck and protects him on their journey downriver in a very maternalistic manner. Thus, Twain's purpose is to make the reader feel sympathy for Jim and outrage against the society that would harm him. However, at the same time that Twain is attacking slavery, he also pushes the issue into the background for most of the novel. Thus, slavery itself is never debated by Huck and Jim. Even the other slaves in the novel are noticeably minor c...