Huck and Pap Relationship

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain brings out the horror of Child abuse by
creating Pap, Huckleberry Finn's abusive father. Pap is a habitual and compulsive alcoholic. At the
opening of the novel, Huck has just become rich with the $6,000 that he got from sharing the treasure
with Tom.

One winter morning, after snow had just fallen, Huck is leaving the Widow's house when he notices
footprints in the snow just outside her gate. Upon closer inspection, he notices that a cross is etched in
left heel of the person's boots. He knows that Pap does this out of a superstitious belief that it keeps the
Devil away, and he realizes that Pap is back in town and is coming after him.

Huck hurries to Judge Thatcher, who is holding Huck's money for him and investing it so that Huck's
wealth will grow. Huck tells Judge Thatcher that he wants to give all his money to him. Judge Thatcher is
understandably puzzled at first, but he soon realizes Huck's motivation, as he too knows that Pap will
take Huck's money and drink it away if he can.

Judge Thatcher draws up a legally binding document with which Huck sells his wealth to Judge Thatcher
for a dollar. Judge Thatcher pays Huck a dollar, and the transaction is complete. Both Judge Thatcher
and Huck know that Judge Thatcher can always sell Huck's money back to him when Huck reaches
maturity and Pap no longer has a claim on him.

When Huck walks into his bedroom that night, Pap is waiting for him. He had climbed in through the
window. Pap demands that Huck give him all his money, but Huck tells him that he only has a dollar. Pap
makes him give him the dollar. Pap also demands that Huck stop going to school. It enrages Pap that
Huck knows how to read and he doesn't. He threatens to beat Huck if Huck continues going to school.
He makes Huck hand over the dollar that Judge Thatcher "paid" him and then climbs out of the window
to go drinking in the town.

Pap goes to Judge Thatcher to try to get Huck's money, but Judge Thatcher has the legal document that
shows that he is now the legal possessor of Huck's money. The Widow Douglas goes to court to get
official legal custody of Huck, but the judge in charge of child custody in St. Petersburg is new to the area
and doesn't know about Pap's background and his abuse of Huck. He says he doesn't believe the law
should split up families, so he refuses to give the Widow official custody of Huck.
Pap begins hanging out around the town and demands Huck give him money every few days. When the
widow tells Pap to get away from her property, he kidnaps Huck and takes him three miles upriver to a
log cabin. Pap carefully locks the door and never leaves Huck's side without making sure that Huck
cannot escape.

Pap continues to drink heavily, and often he goes into drunken frenzies. Pap curses everyone he has
ever met and spends a significant part of his tirade criticizing the government:

“Call this a govment! Why, just look at it and see what it’s like. Here’s the law a-standing ready to
take a man’s son away from him— a man’s own son, which he has had all the trouble and all the
anxiety and all the expense of raising” (28).

On one occasion, he goes into a paranoid rage and beats Huck severely. Huck enjoys being free from
school but is upset as he is being brutally beaten by Pap. He looks for a way to escape.

Huck realizes that Pap will eventually kill him if he doesn't escape. Huck finds a saw and cuts a hole
through the wall. One day, while Pap is gone, Huck shoots a wild pig and splatters its blood all over the
cabin. He smashes the cabin door with an ax and pulls out some of his own hair and sticks it on the ax.
He then drags the pig's carcass into the Mississippi River. Huck hopes that everyone, including Pap, will
assume that he has been murdered, so they won't try to track him down.

As Huck finds Pap returning early and that he is sober, he immediately jumps into the canoe and pushes
off. He floats downstream until he reaches Jackson's Island, a deserted stretch of land in the middle of
the river. Huck ties up the canoe and settles down to get some sleep.

Huck's relationship with Pap is the antithesis of any kind of “ideal" father and son bond. Pap forces his
fatherhood on Huck when has anything to gain.