Huck goes to Hell

Why did Huckleberry Finn decide to go to hell rather than obey the law, when it was no skin off his nose?

“All right then, I’ll go to hell.”
—Huckleberry Finn

Why did Huckleberry Finn condemn himself to hell, rather than do the “right” thing in the eyes of the law, not to mention God Almighty in the Holy Bible?

For me this is one of the more profound moments in literature.

Huck Finn is struggling with his conscience and his fear of eternal torture.

The law says runaway slaves must be returned to their masters

The Bible says Christians must obey the law.

If Huck doesn't turn his friend Jim over to his former master, the widower Miss Watson, then Huck must go to hell.

And hell is something Mark Twain greatly feared as a boy. Twain said he would like awake at night repenting of his sins in tears, only to gather his courage with the rising sun to go out and sin again.

Huck writes a letter to Miss Watson, revealing the location of her runaway slave Jim.

But in the end Huck decides that he will go to hell rather than betray his friend.

It was a close place. I took it up and held it in my hand. I was a-trembling, because I’d got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and then says to myself: “All right then, I’ll go to hell”—and tore it up. It was awful thoughts and awful words, but they was said. And I let them stay said; and never thought no more about reforming.

Huck tears up the letter he was about to send to Jim’s former master, then begins plotting a jailbreak.

Not many white christians of that era would have given up their spot in heaven for a slave.

I have no doubt that there is a lot of the young Samuel Clemens in Huckleberry Finn.

One of my favorite passages in literature.