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