huck = descriptive youngster

the huckleberry finn that we know from life with the Widow is a completely different huckleberry from the one who lives with his father, and yet again different from how he is with sawyer's gang.
basically, while he's living with the widow, his life seems almost monotonous, almost repetitious (sawyer's gang breaks up any chance of monotony, though-- that, and his father). his descriptions of these day to day routines seem simple and tiresome. even in looking at huck's speech in his narration, we see that he is uncomfortable and inconsistent with how he talks. he switches from formal vocabulary ("Well, then the old thing commenced again..." p.4) to informally addressing the audience as if they were a friend ("You don't know about me without you have read a book..." etc., p.3). he doesn't quite know where he fits in; if he's being raised properly, courtesy of the widow, or if he can be totally rebellious, like tom sawyer. this may be partially what drew him to tom's company and makes it so enjoyable for him to hang out with tom. it doesn't help this confusion and inconsistency that his father openly disapproves of the things of which mrs. watson and the widow approve-- such as school and reading, success in terms of money, manners, etc.
with his father, he becomes a different boy. he begins to be rebellious-- but in terms of his father's life, his version of "rebellion" is normal. things that were ok with the widow and mrs. watson are not ok anymore, and there are some things that were utterly forbidden w/ the two women that huck can do openly and freely with his father. (smoking, cursing, not washing...) because he himself is so much less restricted, his speech reflects his "relaxation" or adaptation to life with his father. even if his dad isn't the best parent, and makes some ridiculously poor decisions which almost always negatively affect huck-- and strongly, too-- huck has adapted to this and is relatively comfortable when he's not locked up or dealing with a crazy drunkard for a father. and we can see in his narration how he feels less restrained and more in his environment. he stops having inconsistent spurts of scholarly moments, and seems more mature and able to describe his surroundings more clearly.
how odd that such a nice change in the narration comes from a huge change in his life, that wasn't for the best. we benefit, as readers, from his misfortune of having to live with his father. at least he doesn't see it as a complete misfortune... that is, until he decides to run away....