In a message dated 8/8/2006 8:20:34 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

Thanks,  David, that is interesting.

But I am also interested in what we can  determine from the text itself.

Are there any clues in the novel, or  elsewhere, that indicate further
details or possibilities about the  character Pap Finn and the mother of
Huck?


Pap Finn is in Tom Sawyer as well as Huckleberry Finn.  Pap is modeled after
Jimmy Finn, a notable Hannibal drunk but without the mean  qualities. Huck
is
orphaned by a deceased mother and an absentee father, Pap,  who shows up out
of the blue--we don't know where he's been. Shelly Fisher  Fishkin's
remarkable
work, Was Huck Black? points out: The only  "real" family that each boy
[Huck
Finn compared to the real Jimmy  Finn] has is "Pa" or "Pap" and in both
cases
teh father has a history of  alcohol problems that both children describe
with unembarrassed frankness. In  both cases (despite Jimmy's assertion that
Pa's
drinking days are over), the  problem is ongoing.

So, no mother; character of the father--drunk, mean  and patterned after
Hannibal's Jimmy Finn who slept with the hogs at the town  tannery.

If I find more I'll email.

David