Understanding Huckleberry Finn With Historical Approach

For years, Mark Twain’s classic novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, has been misinterpreted by many people and ultimately, banned in some schools because of its content, which seems very racist to some. However, by using the historical approach, that is, analyzing the time period in which the novel took place and considering it while reading, one can understand Huck Finn better because they have some background knowledge on the book and they can …

…Finn and his contemporaries. A historical approach provides reasoning for events happening in the novel, and clarifies, and may even justify, the use of dialect, word choice, and other literary tools. Huck Finn and other historical books become understandable with the historical approach because it allows the readers to identify the culture in which the novel takes place instead of automatically placing it in the modern culture where it might cause confusion and hurt feelings.