Superstition

One major recurring theme in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is superstition. Huck Finn is very wary of doing things deemed "unlucky", as are many other people living in his hometown. One example is when Huck spilled salt on the table at breakfast. He reached to fling some over his shoulder to make up for the unlucky thing he did, Ms. Watson would not allow him to though. Ms. Watson seems to be one of the few people who is not superstition in town.  When everyone finds out that Huck's body is supposedly in the river, they will shoot a canon believing that the body will float to the surface of the water. This superstition came about in 1947, saying that the blast would rupture the gall bladder and cause the body to float. This is not possible, however, firing a canon could cause a sunken body to come loose from a crevice, etc., allowing it to rise to the surface of the water. Another superstition mentioned in chapter 8 was floating loaves of bread with quicksilver (mercury) inside. This myth is also proven to be faulty.