“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” is set in Baltimore between approximately 1860 (when Benjamin is born) and 1930 (when he dies). Fitzgerald’s decision to have the story start a year before the outbreak of the Civil War is intentional—the narrator notes how the conflict overshadows the fact that Benjamin is born a 70-year-old man and explains why there isn't more of a commotion. It could also be argued that Fitzgerald is drawing a connection between how, with both the Civil War and Benjamin’s condition, characters have to face the fact that changes are happening outside of their control.
The story is set in Baltimore, midway between the North and the South of the United States. While many Marylanders proudly joined the Union Army to fight for the end of slavery, Fitzgerald implies that the Buttons—as part of the wealthy class in Baltimore—supported the Confederacy. Roger Button’s momentary wish “that his son was black” so that he could sell the 70-year-old newborn into slavery also captures the type of racism still present in American society at the time.
As the story takes place across 70 years, Benjamin lives through even more changes—the end of the Civil War, the Gilded Age, the Spanish-American War (in which he fights), World War I, and the Roaring Twenties. Fitzgerald doesn’t note all of these events or eras directly in the short story, but assumes that readers will understand the context. In juxtaposing rapid societal transformations with Benjamin’s experience of aging in reverse—in which he becomes less and less capable of comprehending the significance of the changes happening around him—Fitzgerald is possibly highlighting the challenges some Americans faced in accepting and embracing the changing times.
