Within the pages of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn the reader's attention is grabbed by key characters including Huck, Jim, and Pap. The relationship between Huck and Pap and Huck and Jim contrast with each other in a big way. Both Pap and Jim provide for Huck with characteristics of a patriarch. Throughout the novel they each influence Huck with their beliefs and make a different impact on Huck than the other. Both Pap and Jim can be seen as a father figure for Huck because they offer guidance that Huck uses throughout the story.
As Huck and Jim progress on their journey for freedom, it is apparent that Pap has made an impression on his young son. Pap has taught Huck many life lessons including borrowing and how to deal with a certain kind of people. He learnt borrowing from Pap and explained this to the reader, saying that "I called it borrowing, because that was what pap always called it; but Tom said it warn't borrowing, it was stealing" (281).
Huck and jim on raft
Traditional raft, from 1884 edition of Adventures ...
English: Illustration from Adventures of Huckleber...He was referring to a sheet, shirt, and the fox-fire for Jim, who was being held prisoner at the Phelps' farm. This lesson was taught to Huck by his pap and was later accepted by Huck when he had to "borrow" something for his friend (Jim). Pap had also explained to his son the importance of not dealing with stubborn people. "If I never learnt nothing else out of pap, I learnt the best way to get along with his kind of people is to let them have their own way" (147). Because Huck had to deal his drunken and abusive father for a period of his life, he knew that there was no bother in arguing or standing up to the king and...