In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Jim and Huck use and believe in many superstitions. There are many examples from the book that show this in the characters. Most of the superstitions are very ridiculous, but some make a little sense. In the first example, Huck saw a spider crawling on his shoulder, and he flipped it off and it landed in a lit candle. It shriveled up and died. Huck said it would fetch him some awful bad luck. He got up and turned around three times and crossed his breast every time. Then he tied up a little lock of his hair with a thread to keep witches away. He says that the ritual he did was for losing a found horseshoe and did not know if it would work. These superstitions and remedies seem far-fetched and it is hard to say where they originated, but I would have to say they originated down South. I think it originated down south because I am from up North and I have never heard anyone speak of those superstitions. Huck believes in these probably because he grew up with them and they were always taught to him and he is so ignorant he does not know better. One morning Huck turned over the saltcellar at breakfast. He went to throw the salt cellar over his left shoulder to cancel the bad luck, but Miss Watson stopped him. All day he wondered when something would fall on him and what it would be. This all implies that Huck thinks something is going to fall on him, because of his accident. I have heard about bad luck from spilling salt, so I think this Superstition started in the North or maybe it was just popular and spread quickly. I do not believe there is hardly any fact at all to this. Huck believes in this probably because of the way he grew up.
Jim said when young chickens flew a yard or two at a time and lighting it was a sign that it was going to rain. He thought if birds did it, it would be the same. Also, Jim said if you caught one of them you would die. He thought this because his dad caught one and got sick and his grandmother said he was going to die. His father did die. These superstitions do have a little credibility. I think they originated because some birds do fly in patterns when it is going to rain or storm. The part about his father dying might have a little credibility, but it is kind of stretching it. Maybe his dad caught the bird and ate it without cooking it all the way, or maybe the bird was infected and killed Jim’s dad. Jim probably believed in the bird story about his dad’s death because he experienced it firsthand. Jim also said you should not count the things you are going to cook for dinner, because that would bring bad luck. The same if you shook the table the tablecloth after sundown. He said if a man who owned a beehive died, the bees must be told before sun-up of the next morning or the bees will die. These superstitions are all nonsense and having nothing to do with anything. I think Jim believes this because he does not know any better. He experienced some Superstitions firsthand and that is probably why he believes in them. The previous superstitions probably originated out of stories told wrong, exaggerated, or people kept jazzing up stories to make them interesting, until they turned into nothing, but nonsense.
Jim says if you have hairy arms and a hairy chest then you are going to be rich. This originated probably from a few rich men who were hairy. They probably told people they were rich because of their hair and since they had the money to endorse their ideas people believed them. Money can buy many things; it can also make normal people understand and believe things they usually would not of. Jim probably believed this because maybe his former master or masters were rich and were hairy. He was also hairy and had money at one time. At the end of the book he became free and Tom gave him $40, which supported Jim’s theory.
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Huck grabbed a rattlesnake skin, which was the worst luck Jim and Huck ever encountered. This superstition has good size of fact to it to. It probably originated because people like Huck picked up their skins and kept them in their bags or played tricks on the friends, like Jim. The mates probably came and defended their mate, by attacking the victim who had the rattle-sake skin. The superstition probably got stretched a little out of proportion, but I think a good deal of it is real. Huck and Jim probably believe in the bad luck caused from touching the snake’s skin because they experienced it too. When Huck played that trick on Jim, I am sure Huck became a believer of the bad luck. Jim also said he would rather look at a new moon over his left shoulder a thousand times instead of touching a snakeskin again. This superstition might have originated from people looking over their shoulder and then they probably stumbled and fell or ran into something. Huck and Jim probably believe in this because it makes a good deal of sense to.
