Samuel Langhorne Clemens, mainly known as Mark Twain, was an American autho who shaped the country through his literary works. Twain’s childhood influenced his best works by giving him great stories and the right experience. His early life was key in developing his writing. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was shaped by his early experiences. Huck and Jim’s adventure illustrates the irony of the “peculiar institution” in the South. Ten years later, Twain wrote Puddn’Head Wilson, which further explored slavery. Mark Twain’s early life paved the way for his future success and influenced his best works, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Puddn’Head Wilson. Childhood Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born on November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri. Missouri was a slave state at the time because of the Missouri Compromise in 1820. Thus, Twain had a Southern experience with slaves. At the age of 12, Twain learned the trade of printing and typesetting (Fredericks). Intrigued by the crafts, he decided to learn more. Orion, Twain’s older brother, owned several newspapers, so Twain took the chance to work for him ("Mark Twain"). Working with Orion, he learned every single aspect of the trade. He even submitted small sketches to notable magazines. This was the start of Twain’s journey as a writer. After engaging in several failed business ventures, Twain moved West to find new work. At the same time, he sent small sketches to Orion. In his journey West, Twain stumbled upon the Mississippi River. Horace Bixby taught him every corner of the 2,000 mile long river. Bixby not only taught him piloting a steamboat, but he also shared many superstitions that can be found in Twain’s works (Fredericks). In 1859, Twain received his riverboat license.... ... middle of paper ... ...rah. “The Profane Twain: his personal and literary cursing.” Mark Twain Journal 49. 1-2 (2011): 35+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. . Klauza, Matthew D. “Mark Twain, homesickness, and Hannibal.” Mark Twain Journal 48. 1-2 (2010): 49+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. . "Mark Twain." Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2013. Literature Resource Center. Web. 27 April 2014. . Twain, Mark. The Autobiography of Mark Twain. Comp. Charles Neider. New York: Harper & Row, 1959. Print. Valkeakari, Tuire. "Huck, Twain, and the Freedman's Shackles: Struggling with Huckleberry Finn Today." Atlantis, revista de la Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo- Norteamericanos 28.2 (2006): 29+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 21 May 2014. .
Samuel Clemens, was the sixth child of John Marshalll and Jane Moffit Clemens, born two months prematurely and was in poor health for the first 10 years of his life. His mother tried different types of remedies during those younger years. Twain used his memories of his childhood and his illness to fill the pages of several of his books including Tom Sawyer and other writings. Clemens was often pampered, by his mother, and thus developed early in life the testing her indulgence through mischief, while offering his humor as bond for the crimes he would commit. When Twain’s mother was in her 80s, he asked her about his poor health in those early years: “I suppose that during that whole time you were uneasy about me?” “Yes, the whole time,” she answered. “Afraid I wouldn’t live?” “No,” she said, “afraid you would.” One can clearly see where Twain got his sense of humor and zest for life, (Morris, 1996)). Even though it seemed life started out rough Twain pushed his passed it all and went for what he wanted not allowing anyone to stand in his way.
Mark Twain, a famous American writer-satirist wrote many books highly acclaimed throughout the world. For his masterpiece, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the literary establishment recognized him as one of the greatest writers America would ever produce. This novel is about a teenage boy by the name of Huck Finn whose father is an alcoholic. Because of his violence, Huck runs away and finds a runaway slave Jim. Instead of turning Jim in, Huck goes against society and makes a decision to help Jim break free from slavery. As they travel together, Huck learns more and more about Jim and starts to understand that the common stereotype of black people is wrong. Huck sees there is no difference between Jim and any white man he knows except for skin color. Risking his life and overcoming many difficulties on the way, Huck succeeds in freeing Jim. Focusing on racism, alcoholism and mob mentality, Mark Twain uses his enthusiastic style of writing and satirizes the three traits throughout the novel.
The main thing that stood out in the book was that the story always happened around the river. Huck would go away from the river for a while but would always end up coming back to it a short time later. It was the same way with Mark Twain, whose real name is Samuel Langhorne Clemens. “Mark Twain” is a river man's term for water that was just barely safe for navigation (Kaplan). He was only four years old when his family moved to Hannibal, a small town in Marion County on the west bank of the Mississippi River. There Clemens spent his boyhood, amazed by the romance and shocked by the violence of the river life, with the steamboats, keelboats, and giant lumber rafts, as well as by the people who washed up by the river, the professional gamblers and confidence men. Near the river, the men were fierce and had little cares. It was no place for a young boy.
Mark Twain was born on November 30, 1835 in Florida . At age four, his family of nine moved to the banks of the Mississippi River in Hannibal , Missouri . His family was happy there but not all of his memories of the river were particularly pleasant. Because Missouri was one of the fifteen slave states it was subject to racism and Twain grew up witnessing lynchings, mobs, racism and general inhumane treatment of African Americans. One of Twain’s most horrible memories was “the murder of a defenseless slave by a ruthless slave master and of course, the grim sight of shackled slaves was itself a near-constant along the docks of the river” (Howard). The sightings at the river were not Twain’s only experience around African American slaves though as his own father and uncle both owned slaves. “When Twain visited his uncle’s farm, he enjoyed playing in the slave quarters and listening to their tall tales and spirituals, which he kept with him throughout his life” (http://www.marktwainhouse.org/theman/bio.shtml) When Twain left the South forever, he felt that it was his duty to pay back the debt he felt ever white man owed to every black man because of all the cruelness he had seen done to them. Even though the novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a sequel to the light hearted novel Tom Sawyer, it shows the darker aspects of growing up next to the Mississippi river in a slave state (Howard).
Mark Twain had a typical childhood for his time, but his older years were quite different. He was born on November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri to Jane Clemens and John Clemens (“Mark Twain Biography”). Growing up on the Missouri River, he faced poverty, cruelty, and boredom as a child. He wanted to be relieved from his boredom so he asked Horace Bixby, a pilot, to teach him riverboat piloting. Piloting is where Twain adopted his pen name. The term twain means “two fathoms deep,” which is the depth needed for a riverboat to pass through safely. Twain served in the Civil War for a few weeks in 1861, but then dropped out. After that, he went on ...
Twain’s young life was rather straightforward. His only formal education was a private school in Hannibal, which he grew great contempt for rather quickly. Then he spent his summers on his uncle’s farm, wh...
Twain's life began in the sleepy town of Florida, Missouri. After a few years of living in Florida, Twain's family packed up and moved to Hannibal, Missouri, about 30 miles away from Florida. Hannibal is where most of Twain's thoughts turned into his writings. Hannibal was a small town of 50 people and 3 stores when the Twain family moved in (Foner 16). By the end of the decade it boasted 1,034 persons, a newspaper, a cigar factory, a whisky distillery, and several slaughter houses (16). The key to Hannibal's growth was the main source of Twain's writings the Mississippi River- "the great Mississippi, the magnificent Mississippi, rolling its mile wide tide along" (16). While in Hannibal the young Twain led a life like any other young boy. He played with friends, went swimming, and of course went to school. But tragedy struck while Mark was only 12 years old: his father passed away. Six years later Twain left Hannibal on May 27, 1853 (21). In the autograph album of one of his girl friends, he bade his farewell to Hannibal:
Mark Twain, originally born as Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was the sixth child of a family of eight. Born to John and Jane Clemens on November 30, 1835, Twain was born in the small town of Florida, Missouri. At the age of four, Mark Twain and his family then relocated to Hannibal in the hope of drastically improving their living conditions. He later died of heart disease in Redding, Connecticut on April 21,1910. By lineage, Twain was of Southern decent, as both of his parents' birthplaces were that of Virginia. Slaveholding in the small community of Hannibal, with only a population of 2000 at the time, provided a variety of both a rugged lifestyle mixed with southern tradition. With a lifestyle previously mentioned, these played as a major influence in his major writings, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.
The Life of Samuel Clemens A.K.A. Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens is better known as Mark Twain, the distinguished novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist, and literary critic who ranks among the great figures of American Literature. Twain was born in Florida Missouri, in 1835, To John Marshall Clemens and Jane Lampton. As a new born Twain already had moved four times westward. In 1839 the family moved again, this time eastward to Hannibal, Missouri. Hannibal was a frontier town of less than 500 residents. As small as the town was it offered valuable materials and opportunities for a young writer. Most of the residents knew Samuel well, considering they were on the lower half of the social scale, such as poor whites and slaves. The town of Hannibal was mostly used for farmers coming in from the countryside. It was also a river town, swamped with travelers moving up stream and down stream. Some of the travelers were steamboat men, circus performers, minstrel companies, and showboat actors. Since all this action was going on all the time, that opened a big door to the beginning of Samuel’s stories. It provided a huge source of literary material. Shortly after the death of his father in 1847, he ended the brief period of his schooling to become a printer’s apprentice. Like many nineteenth century authors, he was preparing for his writing career later in life. Working as a Printer’s apprentice he got practice as a typesetter and miscellaneous reading. The first thing Samuel wrote as a used piece was a few skits for his brothers Orion’s Hannibal newspaper and a sketch, for The Dandy Frightening The Squatter, published in Boston in 1852. The first real book ever published by Mark Twain was Life on the Mississippi River. Between 1853 and 1857 Clemens worked a journeyman printer in seven different places. During this trip of making sketches and writing stories, he began eastward by boat. Twain started writing letters telling about his visits to New York and the Middle West in 1867. On his trip he seemed to have gotten him self in a lot a trouble such as disorderly conduct. After time passed Mark kept writing short stories here and there and a few sketches also. However, in 1869 he became part owner of the Buffalo Express. In 1870 Mark met the girl of his dreams and Olivia Langdon and
At the young age of twelve, Twain lost his father. Ever since the loss of his father, he began to work in various jobs. From starting as “an apprentice, then a composer, with local printers, contributing occasional squibs to local newspapers” (“Mark Twain”). The early start of responsibility was just the beginning of his career. During the time, he was working for the newspaper, for six years in the newspaper company, he “finally ended up as an assistant to his brother, Orion” (“Samuel Langhorne Clemens.”). He stayed in Iowa by his brother’s side until he
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written in 1885, is a literary satire written by Mark Twain. The setting of the novel takes place prior to the Civil War along the Mississippi River. This novel presents moral and ethical problems that southern culture placed on individuals during the time period it was written. Twain wrote his Realist period novel to criticize what he believed was wrong with the society of his time. Twain presented his novel through the eyes and speech of the twelve year-old Huckleberry Finn to show his criticism towards this society. Although the novel has been criticized since its publication, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is still considered one of the greatest American novels ever written. Twain uses Huck to create a satirical imitation of the early American culture of the South through the themes of social class, racism, conscience, and religion.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by the pseudonym Mark Twain, has been central to American literature for over a century. His seemingly effortless diction accurately exemplified America’s southern culture. From his early experiences in journalism to his most famous fictional works, Twain has remained relevant to American writing as well as pop culture. His iconic works are timeless and have given inspiration the youth of America for decades. He distanced himself from formal writing and became one of the most celebrated humorists. Mark Twain’s use of the common vernacular set him apart from authors of his era giving his readers a sense of familiarity and emotional connection to his characters and himself.
Humor, cleverness, and world changing visions that capture the imagination of readers is what Mark Twain brought to literature. Mark Twain viewed the world in a unique way that shined through in his writing. It is evident that he had a keen sense of humor and a certain outlook on life that was not conveyed the way most writers would have written a story during this time frame. His unique style sets the stage for authors to write literature in opposing views that brought about real life occurrences that people struggled with and faced during this time frame. Twain viewed life as an adventure and he wrote about those explorations in a way that was funny and light hearted that displayed a lesson to be learned. Mark Twain was not a highly educated
Mark Twain, the famous American author, known as the “Father of American Literature” and best known for The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was born on the 30th of November in 1835. Born with the name Samuel Langhorne Clemens, he chose to be called under the pen name of Mark Twain. Clemens worked along the Mississippi River early in his life. “Mark Twain” was a measuring term used to describe how deep the water was along the river. After years of work at the Mississippi River, he turned to working as a journalist. He became known nationally when his humorous tall tale, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County”, was published in November of 1865, in a New York Weekly, The Saturday Press. Later he became famous for more works such as Innocents Abroad, Roughing IT, The Prince and the Pauper, Life on the Mississippi, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Pudd’nhead Wilson,
On November 30, 1835, the small town of Florida, Missouri had witnessed the birth of it’s most famous son Samuel Langhorne Clemens aka Mark Twain. Samuel Langhorne Clemens was the sixth child of John Marshall and Jane Lampton Clemens. What makes Samuel L. Clemens (Mark twain) is that he was born and died in the same years that Halley’s Comet flew by the earth. Approximately, four years after Samuel’s birth in 1839, the Clemens family moved to the town of Hannibal and his father had built a two-story frame house at 206 Hill Street in 1844, Samuel’s father was a judge,storekeeper, lawyer, and land speculator. Samuel was kept inside his house in Hannibal due to poor health but the age of nine, Samuel had recovered from his ailments. Mark Twain, also known as Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was considered America’s most famous literary icon (symbol) during his era. (http://www.cmgww.com)