G'day all.  I have little to add to Sheldon Craig's excellent
posting on Huck Finn, except to note that in the novel virtually
all of the white characters, aside from Huck and Tom, are either fools
or evil curs.  Jim is depicted as a decent and honorable person, as
are most of the other black characters.

I've been lurking too.  I suspect that listers may be holding back
because they feel they need to have some special academic expertise
to voice an opinion on some aspect of Twain's life or work.  I hope
people will be more willing to kick in their two cents' worth,
whether they're specialists in Twain studies or not.  Twain would be
the last person to want people to refrain from voicing an opinion
out         of shyness or lack of confidence in the value of what they
have to see.  (He was more usually offended by people who placed TOO
MUCH value on their own opinions!)  So let a thousand flowers bloom,
folks, and chat away!

I'm an economist, BTW.

Cheers!

Gary M.