Setting+and+Era+of+Huck+Finn

The mighty Mississippi River, running more than 2,500 miles across the United States, is the main setting for the novel (Mississippi River Resource Page), // The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn //by Mark Twain. Throughout the course of this novel, Huckleberry Finn goes on many adventures in various places heading south along the Mississippi River. The settings may change, but the story, as seen through Huck’s eyes, is told in the era of slavery and ignorance (SparkNotes).  // The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, //by Mark Twain//, // is told through the eyes of a child. The time period that the story is set in is somewhere around 1835 to 1845, before the Civil War broke out (SparkNotes). During this era, slavery was prominent and because of slavery, the United States was broken up between free states and slave states. Because slavery was so well known and used, society was accustomed to forcing blacks to work for no income. Also, society in this time period was known to be ignorant of education and other decencies in their everyday lives. As the story moves forward, we see society, mainly Huck and Miss Watson, realize that slavery is wrong and everyone needs to be treated with deference (Shmoop Editorial Team).  When the novel begins, the setting is St. Petersburg, Missouri, which is a fictional place that is based on the actual hometown of Samuel Clemens, Hannibal, Missouri. (SparkNotes). As the story moves forward, we see Huck in several places along the Mississippi River. First, after Huck was with Miss Watson and the Widow Douglas, Huck is taken to a cabin with his “Pa” that is remote from others. Next we move to Jackson Island where Huck meets Jim. Later on, Huck and Jim pass St. Louis, Missouri, and continue on looking for Cairo, a free city within the state of Illinois (Lindborg). They miss this location completely, so it was actually not a setting seen, just a setting discussed in the novel (Shmoop Editorial Team). Moving farther south, Huck and Jim hit several small river port towns and have adventures on them, such as the Grangerford feud and meeting the King and the Duke. The final setting that we read about is the Phelps’ farm in Arkansas. The setting may move from place to place or port to port, but the main setting that Huck talks about is the Mississippi River and how free and open it is (Lindborg).  The novel, // The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn //, has many settings and interesting places along the Mississippi, but the one linear thing they all have in common is that they all occur near the Mississippi River. The era and setting of this novel provide great detail and positive information to the story. home
 * __Setting/Era of Huckleberry Finn __ **

-Jeffrey