For my own part, I usually focus more on Huck's personal
development than his exterior relations when teaching HF.  I have my
students approach the book from an Emersonian perspective.  In fact, I
play passages from "Self-Reliance" and "Circles" off of some of Huck's
most inwardly--mentally or spiritually--radical actions--targeting those
parts of the book in which we see Huck seize the power he discovers
within as he makes a "transition from a past to a new state," to borrow
from Emerson. Of course, "society everywhere," borrowing again, resists
such a liberating move.
    While I do not entirely avoid other issues in HF, such as race,
class, and gender, I focus mainly on the provocative example of Huck's
struggle to gain or build upon the integrity of his own mind.  It seems
like such a struggle crosses social and racial lines, though I realize
the struggle is made more difficult by circumstances.  Of course, Huck's
life is mo walk in the park.

                        ---Jason