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 …showed first 75 words of 962 total…

…showed last 75 words of 962 total…on African-Americans and slaves in particular. He has also shown Huck the true value of friendship among two people. These are all traits that a typical father would teach his son or daughter. Pap, on the contrary, has not influenced Huck in these ways and played as dramatic of a role in Huck's life. This, in turn, is why Jim has to be concluded as being the better father figure and role model for Huck.