Having Read Huckleberry Finn, 06-27-22

 Incarceration got me to finish Huckleberry Finn. I started the book 30 years ago, stopped, and flirted with it ever since I read Tom Sawyer in grade school. (The latter does a very good job explaining boys.) In junior high, I read A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and in high school I recall reading Innocents Abroad, and Letters from Earth was read between high school and college. But Finn, I left aside. Now, I will shoot my mouth off.

History teachers - use this book. Skip over the comic opening and go directly to the entrance of Jim, the runaway slave. Eyeopening to be reminded how the slave fit into society. How better to get across the moral issues of slavery between 1776 and 1865?

Huck's moral quandary was of Biblical proportions. Helping Jim the slave escape involved Huck in stealing the property of another, this transgressed The Ten Commandments. Even this theft meant getting a human being to freedom. [In the original sentence I had at this point, I noted Twain not invoking the Golden Rule set down by Christ and then drove that sentence into nonsensicality. I do not want to bother you with nonsense. I agree with the observation made back in 2010 while also wanting to emphasize the Old Testament nature of Huck's beliefs. sch 12/25/22.]

Finn illustrates the difference between the Law ("Thou shalt not steal") and Christ ("Do unto others as you would have others do unto you"). Following the Law, as applied to Jim, violated Christ's teaching. That Twain avoided the full crisis of this conflict, probably reflects the thinking of the story's time period, and should not be to Twain's discredit. It took a Civil War to rectify the crisis, a war not even on the horizon at the time of the novel.

Rectify may be too strong a word, as I can see how the Civil War remains a split in the country. Take the Southern Baptist denomination for an example; it exists as a response to the Civil War. Churches remain the most racially segregated institution in American life. As of our last Presidential election, the Confederacy retains a stubborn vitality. (Am I the only finding a repulsive irony in a Republican Governor of Texas mouthing the word secession? What does the Republican Party stand for if not the Union?)

I recall Thoreau writing approvingly of putting substance over form. Much of I read in Twain seems to a satire on the divergence between form and substance. That difference is the food of satire. He also did it in Innocents Abroad. In Finn, whatever playfulness there was in Innocents Abroad edges towards the anger I found in Letters from Earth.

What I wish I could learn this afternoon is Twain's attitude towards Jim Crow. The paperback I read (Signet Library) made a point about him going from the West to the East. I do not recall reading anything about how Twain moved closer to the center of abolition and a stronghold of the Republican Party. Is there nothing made about the move from the South to the North?

The law provides comfort for those frightened of making their own moral decisions. The law, unfortunately, overtakes justice. Is that not the dispute between the Pharisees and Christ? Huckleberry Finn and Walden will give comfort to those favoring justice over the letter of the law.

I think we can all agree, as I think Twain and Thoreau would agree, the best solution is for form and substance to agree with one another. That is, the law be just. After all, is that not this merging of form and substance - Law and Justice - the essence of Christ's message?

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