Huck’s father, Pap is a vicious drunk and racist, demonstrably beyond reform, who wants to have Huck’s fortune for himself. He resents Huck’s social mobility and, when not drunk or in jail, he can usually be found harassing Huck. Infuriated by the Widow at one point, Pap kidnaps Huck and imprisons him in a cabin, where he beats Huck mercilessly, such that Huck is compelled to escape from him once and for all. Pap seems to be free from the Widow and Miss Watson’s idea of society, but he is enslaved to his own wretched viciousness and alcoholism, as much a prisoner as anyone in the novel.
Pap Quotes in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn quotes below are all either spoken by Pap or refer to Pap. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 5
Quotes
“And looky here—you drop that school, you hear? I’ll learn people to bring up a boy to put on airs over his own father and let on to be better’n what he is.”
Related Characters:
Pap (speaker), Huckleberry Finn
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
The judge he felt kind of sore. He said he reckoned a body could reform the ole man [Pap] with a shot-gun maybe, but he didn’t know no other way.
Related Characters:
Huckleberry Finn (speaker), Pap, The new judge
Related Themes:
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Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6
Quotes
“When they told me there was a State in this country where they’d let that nigger vote, I drawed out. I says I’ll never vote again…I says to the people, why ain’t this nigger put up at auction and sold?”
Related Characters:
Pap (speaker)
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Adventures of Huck Finn LitChart as a printable PDF.
Pap Character Timeline in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The timeline below shows where the character Pap appears in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 3
Huck thinks about his father Pap, who hadn’t been seen for more than a year, which is just fine with Huck....
(full context)
Chapter 4
...ox, that Jim does magic with. Huck goes to Jim, tells him that he saw Pap’s tracks in the snow (those that leave the cross), and asks what Pap is going...
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Chapter 5
Huck is scared at first to see the old, greasy, pale Pap sitting in his room because Pap “tanned,” or beat, him so often, but soon is...
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Pap tells Huck that he hears that Huck is rich now, but Huck says that he...
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The next day, Pap is drunk and tries to coerce Judge Thatcher into giving him Huck’s fortune, but the...
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Pap is pleased with the court’s custody ruling. He threatens to beat Huck “black and blue”...
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After Pap is released, the new judge resolves to reform him. He invites Pap to supper, where...
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Chapter 6
Pap continues to harass Judge Thatcher for Huck’s money, and he harasses Huck for not stopping...
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When Pap loiters around the Widow’s estate too much, the Widow reprimands him. Pap vows to show...
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Huck comes to like the “lazy and jolly” life he leads with Pap, the smoking and fishing he does without the burden of study. His nice clothes become...
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However, Pap eventually begins to beat Huck so often and so severely that Huck, covered with welts,...
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Pap is characteristically in a bad mood when he comes in. He rants that his lawsuit...
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After Huck loads the skiff, he and Pap sit down to dinner, during which Pap becomes drunk. He begins to rant against the...
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As he rants, Pap wanders around the cabin, eventually tripping on a tub of salt pork, which makes him...
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After some time passes, Pap jumps up “looking wild,” and he goes after Huck with a knife, calling him the...
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Chapter 7
Pap wakes Huck, who fell asleep in the night, and asks him what he’s doing with...
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After Huck returns to shore, Pap berates him for taking so long with the fish. Huck lies that he fell in...
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Pap and Huck collect nine logs from the river to sell and then eat dinner. Pap...
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Huck takes Pap’s gun into the nearby woods, kills a hog, and takes the hog back to his...
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Huck hears a sound. It is Pap paddling back to the cabin. Huck loses no time in slipping quietly down the river...
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Chapter 8
...shore to observe the ferry as it passes. Many people he knows are onboard, including Pap, Judge Thatcher, and Tom Sawyer, all of whom are talking about Huck’s “murder.” The captain...
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Chapter 12
...the mornings, he slips into cornfields to “borrow,” that is, steal produce. Huck says that Pap told him that it wasn’t harmful to “borrow” things if you mean to pay for...
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Chapter 43
...money. Tom says that Huck still has six thousand dollars in Judge Thatcher’s care, because Pap didn’t take it and hasn’t even been in town. Jim explains that Pap died; his...
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