Essay On Huckleberry Finn Is A Bad Father Figure

Twain creates two father figures in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn who are opposites of each other. The two father figures in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are Jim and Pap. It can be concluded that Twain was trying to prove Jim was a much better father figure than Pap. Although both characters do have some similarities, they are very different. Jim and Pap may share the same religious beliefs, but they do not share the same morals, the same traits, and the same thoughts which set them apart.
Jim and Pap have very different morals, and they differentiate in how they think and look at the world. Jim is the Yin, while Pap is the Yang. Jim represents the good force, and Pap represents the bad force. We see Jim as a good father figure

because we can compare him to Pap. Pap makes Jim a good father figure, and Jim makes Pap a bad father figure. As Jim is the “Yin,” it is obvious he is the one with the good morals and the righteous thinking. Twain suggests that Jim is such a humble man that even after going through all of the things such as slavery, abuse, and separation from family, he is still kind and humble towards the world and society with no anger or complains towards it. One of the quotes from the book says, “Well, I b'lieve you, Huck. I—I RUN OFF.” This quotes proves how gullible and naïve and innocent he is towards the world. He believes Huck when Huck tells him that he ran away but doesn’t question for one second that Huck did the same exact thing. On the contrary, Pap is the one with bad morals. By having Jim and Pap as father figures, Twain is trying to prove that as a man, it is up to you on how you perceive the world regardless of the environment you were in or still are. Pap may have gone through something tragic like the death of Huck’s mother or a big loss in a business of his or he may have even had an abusive father himself, but that is still not as worse as Jim’s conditions. It is most likely that Jim has gone through worse things, such as abuse and discrimination because of his skin color, than Pap has. This proves that Pap was an immoral man. It proves Pap had a choice, but he chose the unrighteous path. Twain was indirectly comparing these two and emphasizing how noble and humble Jim actually is. The big theme comes up here as well; the theme of racism and how the society is wrong in judging and discriminating people by their color. Pap was not only an immoral man, but he was also a big racist. At one point in the book, he says, “Here was a free nigger there from Ohio—a mulatter, most as white as a white man. He had the whitest shirt on you ever see, too, and the shiniest hat; and there ain't a man in that town that's got as fine clothes as what he had; and he had a gold watch and chain, and a silver-headed cane—the awful- est old gray-headed nabob in the State. And what do you think? They said he was a p'fessor in a college, and could talk all kinds of languages, and knowed everything. And that ain't the wust. They said he could VOTE when he was at home. Well, that let me out. Thinks I, what is the country a-coming to? It was 'lection day, and I was just about to go and vote myself if I warn't too drunk to get there; but 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 agin.” Pap is so angry at the idea of a black man being educated, well-dressed, and allowed to participate in an election that he refuses to vote in the election. This implies the low level of his morality. It can be concluded that Jim was a moral man, whereas Pap was an immoral man.
Even though Jim and Pap were the opposites, there were some similarities between them.

To society, both were looked upon as “bad” father figures. According to the society and their rules, Jim was a bad father figure because of his skin color which is completely absurd; however, Pap was a bad father figure to society not because of his skin color, but because of his morals and his behavior towards Huck. Believing Pap was a bad father figure was at least logical compared to believing Jim was a bad father figure. When Pap comes back at the beginning, he sees Huck reading and he says, “You've put on considerable many frills since I been away… You're educated, too, they say—can read and write. You think you're better'n your father, now, don't you, because he can't?” Here, Pap proves society right. He is undoubtedly a bad father figure, and there is absolutely no doubt in that. Because Huck can read and write, Pap becomes jealous of Huck. Instead of being proud, Pap becomes jealous of Huck. This is not something that can be found in good fathers. Now when Jim see Pap’s dead body, he hides it from Huck. He tells Huck, “It's a dead man. Yes, indeedy; naked, too. He's ben shot in de back. I reck'n he's ben dead two er three days. Come in, Huck, but doan' look at his face—it's too gashly.” Jim hides the body from Huck because he doesn’t want Huck to find out that his father had died. No matter how Pap may have been, Huck would have still been very upset over the fact that his father had died, so to protect Huck, Jim doesn’t let him see the dead body. This is something that can be in good fathers. Even though society considered both as bad father figures, they were wrong about Jim but right about Pap. Another similarity between Jim and Pap was their views in religion. Neither of them were religious; neither of them believed in any religion. Also both were very superstitious. Jim and Pap do share some similarities, but they have nothing to do with character or

beliefs.
Other major differences between them are their characters, their opinions, and their skin color. On one hand, Jim is black, honest, loving, caring, and noble; however, on the other hand, Pap is white, dishonest, ignorant, abusive, neglectful, and an alcoholic. The descriptions are ironic considering that during the time period the story took place, the typical belief was the opposite. When Huck and Jim are separated in the fog, Huck makes Jim believe it was just his imagination, but Jim realizes that Huck is fooling him, so Jim is hurt by this which proves that he cares as you can only get hurt if you really cared. Jim truly cares about Huck and so does Huck, but Pap doesn’t care about anyone other than himself and his whisky. At a point in the book, Jim says, “Well, it's a blame ridicklous way, en I doan' want to hear no mo' 'bout it. Dey ain' no sense in it.” Here, Jim believes that people do not speak different languages around the world because he thinks we are all the same. This tells us that Jim thinks everyone is equal. Conversely, Pap does not believe in equality at all. As mentioned before, he gets mad and doesn’t vote because a black man got to vote in a state. Pap is racist and believes that some people are superior to others. It can be concluded that Jim has a good character, whereas Pap has a bad character, even though Jim is black and Pap is white.
Twain created two father figures in this novel on purpose. He made Jim black and Pap white on purpose also. He wanted to emphasize the fact that not all black man are bad and not all white man are good. Twain clearly intends Jim to be honest, caring, loving, noble, and humble, while he intends Pap to be dishonest, neglectful, abusive, ignorant, and racist. Twain made Jim a slave and not a free man because he wanted to make sure that Jim went through worse conditions than Pap did, so people wouldn’t argue that it was the environment and the conditions of the two that shaped their beliefs, morals, and personality. Twain clearly believed that Jim was a better father figure than Pap, and I absolutely agree with him.