y. Huck, as a product of his society, speaks the language of his society. By choosing as his point-of-view a young boy from the slave south, Twain is able to present and challenge the values and assumptions of this time. Among the assumptions and values of the time that the reader encounters in the book are the strict definitions pertaining to Huck’s world and the people who inhabit it:
The world of Huckleberry Finn presents a curious mixture of Calvinist principles and aristocratic ideals. . . . We meet most of the fundamentalist Christian sects from their Sunday schools to their Methodist and Presbyterian churches; from Revivalist camp meetings to lay preachers (like brother Phelps) and ministers (like the Wilks brothers). We meet representatives of all three classes from upper and lower orders of the ruling Whites to Blacks. For that is the first division: Whites (who are ‘people’) and Blacks (just ‘niggers’). ‘People’, in their turn are further divided into two castes: ‘the quality’ and plain ‘folks.’”
In order for Huck to challenge any of the
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