In the final chapter of the novel Tom finds Huck sleeping in a barrel after slipping away from the Widow Douglas. Huck confesses that he cannot stand the Widow’s lifestyle or the life she has laid out for him. To this Tom reasons, “Well, everybody does it that way, Huck” (35, 213), to which Huck replies, “Tom, I’m not everybody.” (35, 213) That is an undeniable truth about Huck. He is one of a kind, as is Tom. Twain’s young readers detect their uniqueness through their language. The way Tom and Huck talk, as well as what they talk about, is so uniquely their own that it is hard to group them in with any other literary characters. In designing these specific characters, Twain creates the epitome of the all-American boy brand. While that label
