There is no extreme to which the father won’t go to save his children from themselves, including the sacrifice of one for the other.
Mr. P. D. Holflapper (the father) is incapable of seeing the subtler shades of gray—it’s either black or it’s white, the right way or the wrong, one either accepts him unconditionally or rejects him entirely. The father perceives himself as the perfect parent—a loving, righteous man, offering his boys, Jack and Judas, the most meaningful and lasting gifts. He clothes them in timeless morals, and provides them an environment of structure and discipline. There’s more than a hint of Old Testament patriarch in the father, and just like that great Father of old, he grants his children free will.
His two boys, however, share a somewhat different opinion of their father. They see him as distant, rigid, curiously jealous and secretive, but mostly… terrifying. Yes, they have free will, the power to choose, but if they make the wrong choice, they could wind up spending the rest of eternity suffering at the hands of their mysterious Uncle Lu.
“Once Uncle Lu has you,” their father warns them, “it will sadly be beyond my power to intervene.”
The Father is a dark, tragic, and quirky allegory.