Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

by

Mark Twain

Teachers and parents! Struggling with distance learning? Our Teacher Edition on Adventures of Huck Finn can help.
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:
Slavery and Racism Theme Icon
).
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
Page Number: 15
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
Page Number: 17
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)
Page Number: 20
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Adventures of Huck Finn LitChart as a printable PDF.
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 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
Growing Up Theme Icon
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
Religion and Superstition Theme Icon
...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... (full context)
Chapter 5
Society and Hypocrisy Theme Icon
Freedom Theme Icon
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... (full context)
Society and Hypocrisy Theme Icon
Growing Up Theme Icon
Pap tells Huck that he hears that Huck is rich now, but Huck says that he... (full context)
Society and Hypocrisy Theme Icon
The next day, Pap is drunk and tries to coerce Judge Thatcher into giving him Huck’s fortune, but the... (full context)
Society and Hypocrisy Theme Icon
Freedom Theme Icon
Pap is pleased with the court’s custody ruling. He threatens to beat Huck “black and blue”... (full context)
Society and Hypocrisy Theme Icon
Freedom Theme Icon
After Pap is released, the new judge resolves to reform him. He invites Pap to supper, where... (full context)
Chapter 6
Society and Hypocrisy Theme Icon
Freedom Theme Icon
Pap continues to harass Judge Thatcher for Huck’s money, and he harasses Huck for not stopping... (full context)
Society and Hypocrisy Theme Icon
Freedom Theme Icon
When Pap loiters around the Widow’s estate too much, the Widow reprimands him. Pap vows to show... (full context)
Society and Hypocrisy Theme Icon
Growing Up Theme Icon
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... (full context)
Freedom Theme Icon
However, Pap eventually begins to beat Huck so often and so severely that Huck, covered with welts,... (full context)
Society and Hypocrisy Theme Icon
Freedom Theme Icon
Pap is characteristically in a bad mood when he comes in. He rants that his lawsuit... (full context)
Slavery and Racism Theme Icon
Society and Hypocrisy Theme Icon
After Huck loads the skiff, he and Pap sit down to dinner, during which Pap becomes drunk. He begins to rant against the... (full context)
Society and Hypocrisy Theme Icon
Religion and Superstition Theme Icon
As he rants, Pap wanders around the cabin, eventually tripping on a tub of salt pork, which makes him... (full context)
Religion and Superstition Theme Icon
After some time passes, Pap jumps up “looking wild,” and he goes after Huck with a knife, calling him the... (full context)
Chapter 7
Freedom Theme Icon
Pap wakes Huck, who fell asleep in the night, and asks him what he’s doing with... (full context)
Freedom Theme Icon
After Huck returns to shore, Pap berates him for taking so long with the fish. Huck lies that he fell in... (full context)
Freedom Theme Icon
Pap and Huck collect nine logs from the river to sell and then eat dinner. Pap... (full context)
Growing Up Theme Icon
Freedom Theme Icon
Huck takes Pap’s gun into the nearby woods, kills a hog, and takes the hog back to his... (full context)
Slavery and Racism Theme Icon
Freedom Theme Icon
Huck hears a sound. It is Pap paddling back to the cabin. Huck loses no time in slipping quietly down the river... (full context)
Chapter 8
Society and Hypocrisy Theme Icon
Freedom Theme Icon
...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... (full context)
Chapter 12
Freedom Theme Icon
...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... (full context)
Chapter 43
Society and Hypocrisy Theme Icon
Freedom Theme Icon
...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... (full context)