Slavery In Huck Finn

Set in the 1840s before the Civil War, the novel takes place in the South, where slavery was supported and needed for the tobacco and cotton industries. During this time, a language barrier existed between the slaves and their owners. This is depicted in the novel by having the slaves talk in a different and strange way. By using slavery as a theme of his book, Twain appears to be criticizing slavery and the segregation that followed it. Slaves in those years were oppressed by their owners and suffered greatly, and this was viewed as a normal every day thing. In the book even people, who appear to be good, such as Miss Watson, own slaves and pay no notice to the injustice that slavery was.

Biographical information

Born Samuel Clemens in Florida, Mississippi, Mark Twain grew up in a slave state before the Civil War. At the age of four, Mark Twain moved to Hannibal, a town near the Mississippi River. Hannibal was very similar to some of the towns portrayed in the book. Growing up, Twain’s family owned many household slaves, which mostly likely contributed to slavery in the novel. During his twenties, he begins to work a riverboat pilot. His years spent on the river gave him ideas for the time Huck spends on the raft in the book. As a journalist for various states later in his life, Twain incorporates many of the dialects he came across into the story as well.

Short plot summary

The story begins in Missouri where Huck Finn is being watched over by two sisters, Miss Watson