"Luke, I am your FATHER!"

The role of Pap can (and should) be broken down into two separate categories: as a character and as Twain's commentary on the society of his time. As a character he is purely antagonistic; Pap pulls Huck away from good living conditions, causes physical and mental harm to our young hero, and sets a bad example for Huck to follow. He's just not a good guy. Thankfully, our protagonist is rather independent. Instead of listening to his father, Huck does all he can to do just the opposite just to spite Pap. While most of us "rebel" for the same reason, Huck actually stands to gain a lot from this little display of teen angst and the decisions he bases on it. This is where we begin to see more of what Pap represents than what he actually is. The most memorable Pap "scene" would have to be in chapter five, where he rants about the government, the man of mixed race, and doing some terrible things all while getting more drunk and almost attacking his son. In Pap we can see Twain's criticism of the society he had to live in that mistreated blacks, Twain's criticism of the lack of action on the government's part (although presented from the opposite side), and most importantly, the catalyst for the beginnings of Huck's moral development. As stated before, Huck chooses to do things in spite of his father, but he ends up learning valuable life lessons; to be able to make your own decisions, to see with eyes unclouded, and to give a chance to those that are most deserving. While Huck could never appreciate (nor understand if we're to take it that far) what Pap has unknowingly done for him, we as readers can say that Pap, he wasn't that bad after all.