Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

In this article Anspaugh discusses the biblical allusions that are in the book of "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." First of all "The Book of Exodus" has been noted and received a lot of attention in the book. Billy G. Collins had observed and discussed that Mark Twain (the author of the book) had created a different sort of modern Moses in which was similar to the biblical Moses, and also as Huck played the part of Christ himself. There are several other similarities such as in chapter 33 and also in chapter 18 when Huck is in a tree and witnesses the Shepherdson and Grangerford fight. He remarked that being a parody to the Crucifixion of Christ.

As Anspaugh finds that Huck has played the part of both Moses and Christ the question comes up how could he be both of them? Anspaugh explains, as Twain is simply using examples from biblical typology which was a procedure that was used by early and mid-Victorian Bible readers and preachers. George P. Landow defines Typology as a "Christian form of biblical interpretation that proceeds in the assumption that God placed anticipations of Christ in the laws, events, and people of the Old Testament." Anspaugh explains the reasons of why Huck could play both parts of Moses and Christ at once claiming that the interpretation of typology is that it retains a difference but also asserts identity as she claims that Moses is Christ himself.

Anspaugh goes on to talk about how Huckleberry Finn is an example of typological realism. As she finds that Hannah More's book, "Moses in the Bulrushes, A Sacred drama," is what Twain might have had in mind while writing Huckleberry Finn. Anspaugh says that given these examples, Twain intended for readers to think of Huck as a sincere antitype of Moses and Christ.