Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc (Post Hoc Fallacy)

post hoc, ergo propter hoc (also called the post hoc fallacy): when a writer implies that because one thing follows another, the first caused the second. Confusing sequence with causation

"Well, I was getting to feel that way myself, though I've always reckoned that looking at the new moon over your left shoulder is one of the carelessest and foolishest things a body can do. Old Hank Bunker done it one, and bragged about it; and in less than two years he got drunk and fell off of the shot tower and spread himself out so that he was just a kind of layer, as you might say; and they slid him edgeways between two barn doors for a coffin, and buried him so they say, but I didn't see it."
                                                                                       -Adventure of Huckleberry Finn
                                                                                                     by Mark Twain

In the passage above Huck is assuming that because Hank Bunker looked at a new moon over his left shoulder he died. However, we know that a causal relationship between these two events is virtually impossible. Twain inserts this to characterize both Huck and Jim as superstitious. This shows their ignorance and the ignorance of the region they come from. However, this also shows some innocence; they really do not know better. Twain is communicating this to give the reader an idea of who and what they are dealing with, while also injecting humor. The reader should laugh at the ridiculousness of the claim, as Twain was a well-known humorist, and portrayed the "backwards" ways of the backwoods in a humorous light.