Furthermore, this article also reveals what is at stake for the American literary community if the character and voice of Huck Finn is believed to be based on African-Americans and the their vernacular. The character of Huck Finn helped create the colloquial style in American literature, and the statement that Huck Finn is black immediately calls into question how American the literary phenomenon of the "American colloquial style" is and reveals that Twain's decision to have the Huck Finn's African-American roots disguised under the status of a white child erase the African-American influences on his work. In essence, Twain is essentially re-appropriating African-American influences and seeing Huck Finn and those linguistic stylizations of African-American culture as belonging to white people.