The Father - Jules

What do you think the significance is of the father in this book? I don't really understand why he is brought up so much throughout the story. Well, its not like he is brought up all of the time, but I think he is mentioned way too much. He is not really that important at all in my mind. Maybe he is brought up to show how Tom ends up being like him...? I don' t know though, what do you think?