Huck fears encountering his father Pap after seeing his tracks. He knows Pap is only motivated by whiskey or greed, so Huck hopes to avoid him by appearing poor. Huck lived a violent and dysfunctional life with Pap prior to the Civil War, which left him deeply afraid of his father. Both Huck and Jim hold superstitious beliefs, like burying a dead cat to cure warts or telling the future with a hairball. When Pap appears, he seems more like a clown than the scary figure Huck remembers, though his desire to keep Huck from school is ironic. Pap's calling Huck the "Angel of Death" foreshadows the deaths Huck will witness on his journey down the

1. Huck Finn
Looking deeper 4-6

2. Pap coming to visit
• When Pap's tracks appear, Huck would rather
give his money away than risk confronting
Pap. He knows that Pap is inspired only by
whisky or greed, and if Huck is poor, perhaps
Pap will leave him alone.

3. Fear of Pap
• Huck fear is understood, its obvious that his
previous life with Pap was violent and
dysfunctional.
• Theme present: messy and violent
environment after the Civil War

4. Superstition
• Superstition = false notion
• Huck and Jim are superstitious
– Tom Sawyer, burring the dead cat to get rid of warts
– Telling future with hairball
• What is told: According to Jim, both Pap and Huck
have "two angels hoverin'" over them, and the
future is uncertain. Jim warns Huck to stay away
from the water because it is his fate to be
hanged.

5. Seeing Pap
• Pap appears as a clown or
buffoon with exaggerated
features. (not as scary as
Huck remembers)
• Irony: How can a father not
be proud of his son learning
to read and write? And
wants him to quite school!!

6. • When Pap calls Huck the Angel of Death at the
end of Chapter 6, the name appears to be one
of Pap's hallucinations. This foreshadows the
numerous deaths that Huck encounters as he
escapes down the Mississippi.