In this book, Faulkner draws upon the entire comic tradition that he admired from Shakespeare and Cervantes to George Washington Harris and Mark Twain. Perhaps the clearest and most often noted precursor of The Reivers is Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Though Lucius differs from Huck Finn because he has dependable adult teachers, he is like Huck in that his adventure to the moral margins of society helps him to discover the core values by which he will live, leads him to an increased respect for the moral and intellectual qualities of marginalized African-Americans, and to some extent complicates his views of women.

Finally, unlike Huck, Lucius returns to respectable society after his adventure, better prepared to live an adult life.