The term villain can loosely be defined as a person who commits evil acts or wrongdoings, and sometimes certain villains are not as obvious as others.Twain uses social commentary to analyze these characters. In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a satirical work of fiction by Mark Twain, Twain uses villainy through multiple characters to bring light to the character of Huck Finn.
Pap, as a horrible drunk and an equally as terrible father, provides a notable contrast to Huck. Pap is furious and extremely jealous that Huck is getting an education and that Miss Watson and Widow Douglass are beginning to civilize him. “You think you’re better’n your father now, don’t you, because he can’t [read and write]?” (Twain 21). Pap doesn’t want Huck to have an education, because he is afraid Huck will be better than him. He uses the excuse that his mother was not educated before she died, and neither is he, and that means that Huck should also not be educated. Pap wants Huck to follow in his footsteps, not step outside of the path. “Paradoxically, although Pap is an outcast, he is also the voice of convention: one must know one’s place,” (Parini 5) Pap knows, maybe from personal experience, that stepping outside of where you belong in their society is essentially a death sentence. He believes that child should be like their parents, no matter the …show more content…
Chris Colfer says “People are not born heroes or villains; they’re created by the people around them.” These characters, like Pap and Tom, in a way, act as a foil to Huck Finn. The Duke and the Dauphin, Pap, Tom, these are all very obvious villains for the novel, but Twain’s use of society also acts as a villain. Twain redefines what the reader thinks of the word “villain”. So what is a villain? Is it someone who commits heinous acts, someone that wreaks havoc, or a character who changes the very definition of
Pap, as a horrible drunk and an equally as terrible father, provides a notable contrast to Huck. Pap is furious and extremely jealous that Huck is getting an education and that Miss Watson and Widow Douglass are beginning to civilize him. “You think you’re better’n your father now, don’t you, because he can’t [read and write]?” (Twain 21). Pap doesn’t want Huck to have an education, because he is afraid Huck will be better than him. He uses the excuse that his mother was not educated before she died, and neither is he, and that means that Huck should also not be educated. Pap wants Huck to follow in his footsteps, not step outside of the path. “Paradoxically, although Pap is an outcast, he is also the voice of convention: one must know one’s place,” (Parini 5) Pap knows, maybe from personal experience, that stepping outside of where you belong in their society is essentially a death sentence. He believes that child should be like their parents, no matter the …show more content…
Chris Colfer says “People are not born heroes or villains; they’re created by the people around them.” These characters, like Pap and Tom, in a way, act as a foil to Huck Finn. The Duke and the Dauphin, Pap, Tom, these are all very obvious villains for the novel, but Twain’s use of society also acts as a villain. Twain redefines what the reader thinks of the word “villain”. So what is a villain? Is it someone who commits heinous acts, someone that wreaks havoc, or a character who changes the very definition of