wledge comes from books, which Huck purposely avoids. Because Huck’s exposure to literature has thus been severely limited, “educated” opinions have not great-ly influenced his perception of the world. Rather, the knowledge that he gains from true-life ex-perience allows him to formulate his own beliefs based entirely on real-world situations and fac-tual information. While off on one of Tom’s wild adventures, for instance, Huck sees “no Spa-niards and A-rabs . . . no camels nor no elephants” (21) as his overly-imaginative friend does, but instead recognizes the “Sunday-school picnic” (21) that is actually at hand. Despite Tom’s insis-tence as to the presence of such exotic individuals, Huck cannot see past the picnic group on the surface. For him, the world and all its aspects have singular meanings; a Sunday-school is a Sunday-school and could not possibly be anything else. Yet Tom is convinced otherwise, as he tells Huck that “if [he] warn’t so ignorant, but had read a book called ‘Don Quixote'” (21), he too would see the so-called Spaniards and nonexistent A-rabs. Tom thus implies that Huck’s lit-eral perception of the world stems from his limited, and therefore inadequate, acquaintance with literature. Were Huck as well-read as him, Tom suspects that his friend’s stubborn focus on reali-ty would be replaced with an outlook similar to his own.

And finally, Tom understands the world as an extension of the novels he relentlessly absorbs. He is “knowing and not ignorant” (247), as he feels Huck is, and remains convinced that if he has “seen [something] in books” (17), then “that’s what [he’s] got to do” (17). To him, every book is a bible, a guide to life, an instruction manual for proper living. It seems that for him there is no alternative; literature holds the laws that he cannot willingly disobey. He “reckon[s] that the people that [make] the books knows what’s the correct thing to do” (17) and decides to adhere to the paradigmatic writings of “the best authorities” (254). He sees novelists as the world’s experts on life whose works of fiction contain nature’s ultimate truths. If he only abides by their teach-ings, he feels, he can do no wrong, and for this reason, he bases his existence in literature. While liberating Jim in the manner outlined by Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo, Tom wishes that he could “keep it up all the rest of [his life]” (262), acting as his books decree. By emulating the archetypical characters of literature, he believes he is living as he should: in accordance with so-called literary law. In his eyes, those he imitates epitomize humanity because they are the creations of the “best authorities.” So as defined by his worldview, Tom is simply another character in Life: the Book.

Just as beliefs about the world and its many facets differ from Tom to Huck, the frauds, and to the escaping slave, Jim, existential perceptions vary between all humans, past or present. Shakespeare has eloquently described life as a stage and humans as mere players, living only to act their part then exit at the final curtain, but that is only one perspective. As to the truth-who knows? Each view is simply speculation, an observation, a personal, uncertifiable