what does civilizing meant to the writer

For Huck this meant using good manners, being well groomed, going to school and basically becoming a "gentleman". Huck, of course, wanted nothing to do with this. Huck felt this destroyed his freedom. He wanted adventure and to live a life free of social conformity.

When Widow Douglas takes Huck in to "sivilize" him, Huck says it is rough considering how "regular and decent the widow was in all her ways." Part of the experience that Huck finds rough is the prctice the widow has 'to tuck down her head and grumble a little over the victuals" instead of going right to eating. In addition to learning good manners and developing regular habits of respectable living, "sivilizing" includes learning to pray. Miss Watson tries to help Huck with spelling (education), his manners ("Don't put your feet up there Huckleberry"), and his understanding of heaven and hell ("then she told me all about the bad place") Huck struggles with all three things throughout the book because they limit his freedom and prevent him from enjoying the adventure he wants. At the end of the book he rejects being "sivilized" in favor of adventure.