I think it might be seen as a "cheat" because everything seems to resolve so neatly: Jim is freed, not only from his captors, but from slavery. Huck is "freed" by Jim's revelation that pap is dead. And Huck's struggles with social mores are "solved" by his resolution to "light out for the territory." So all seems right with the world and all the issues raised by the book seem resolved by a happy ending for all. I'd argue that the ending is not really as resolved as it seems, but it does seem to tie everything up in a neat little package, a resolution that feels like cheating at first. Sharon