What surprises me the most in Huckleberry Finn is Hucks’s relationship with his father. Huck’s relationship to his father, Pap, is very similar to the relationship of children and their parents in our society today. Some children do tend to get along with their parents, while others don’t seem to get along with their parents at all. Can you imagine what life would be like for you if your father was an alcoholic, was always complaining about the Government and didn’t want you to get an education? Well, Huck’s father Pap is completely insane. This is the kind of life he wants for his child Huck, a life with no education.
Pap is always complaining or criticizing the Government and he is constantly going to court. The judge always offers money. Whenever Pap has money, he spends it on alcohol. Pap is an alcoholic and he is often too drunk to care or pay mind to his son Huck. He is constantly complaining about Huck’s education. An actual parent would want his child to go to school and get a good education. Pap however, doesn’t want this for his son Huck.
What I find most ironic is the way Huck behaves and acts toward his father. What Huck fears the most is to become his father. He sees the negativity in his father as a form of motivation. However, not a negative motivation, but a positive one. This makes Huck want to be a better individual. This is mainly because Huck has a positive self esteem. In reality if it were another child, the situation would be totally different. It may be that the child can turn out to have low self esteem and be suicidal because they don’t have the attention from their parent or the parent is mistreating them. Huck’s reaction towards his father is very weird. He minimizes the contact with his father and he is trying to escape his father's negativity. What shocked me the most was that he sees it as motivation rather than a tragedy. Why isn’t Huck’s personality this way? What I wonder the most is if Huck was truly inspired by his father's negativity to become a better person? Will he turn out to be like his father when he becomes an adult?
posted by Shireen B.
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Does Huck really want to be a better person? A better person might follow Miss Watson's rules. She set boundaries for Huck and sent him to school. Is Pap really a motivation for Huck? I think Huck just wants to be on his own, do things his way. The lies, the stealing, everything he says and does in the end works out for him, but does it make him a good person? He is protecting Jim, which is good, but as The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn continues, Huck seems to be doubting everything he does for Jim. Maybe Huck is really just a selfish person. He is awfully smart for his unknown age. Maybe the one thing his father did do was teach him to use his resources. After all Pap did live without a roof over his head, but always found a way to survive. I can't believe the Judge kept giving Pap money. He obviously wasn't turning his life around and especially not to benefit Huck. He was using Huck. As long as Huck was around, the Judge gave Pap money. I don't think Huck is completely inspired by his father, I just think he feels that his father lives spontaneously and Huck wants that "unsivilized" way of life too.
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