In chapters one through five, we are introduced to a couple characters, including Huckleberry's father, who - the way I see it - is a bit "off his nut." Huckleberry Finn's father is an alcoholic, abusive, grumpy, hairy (and sort of scary-looking, if you ask me) man, who seems to not care all-too-deeply about the well-being of his son. This is almost definitely a huge contribution to the reasons why Huck decides to run away. I mean, the poor kid doesn't know what to do. He's got The Widow Douglas and Miss Watson trying to push him towards getting an education and being religious, while his father is pulling him away from that and seems to only be interested in money and alcohol.
My question is: what in the Sam heck went wrong in this man's head that made him the way he is (because he's definitely not mentally stable)? Also, I think it's pretty safe to say that I (nor poor Huck) is very fond of Huck's father.. but even if he is a terrible parent, he is clearly an important character in the story because he is contributing to most of the problems that Huck is currently encountering.
A take away I had from this section of the novel is some odd little things that spark my interest. I may be alone in thinking this, but Huck seems to be a bit superstitious, and he might even get that from his dad. I noticed that huckleberry was worried when he knocked over the salt shaker, so he immediately jumped to go throw some over his shoulder to ward off bad luck. Similarly, his father's boots have nails hammered into them in a specified shape to keep demons away. Supernatural things seem to catch my attention, so their little rituals seemed to stick in my head (although I didn't understand who was warding off what or why they thought they needed to at first).