America’s Author: Mark Twain via The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Puddn’Head Wilson

“Mark Twain, The Story of Samuel Clemens.”1959. Twain, Mark, ed. Charles Neider. “The Autobiography of Mark Twain.” First copyright 1917, this edition 1959.

Atlantis, revista de la Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos 28.2 (2006): 29+. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 11 Apr. 2014.

There on the West Bank of the river, Sam spent his boyhood with moving steamboats and making stops (Encyclopedia Americana 921A). Growing up aside a mile-wide surfaced Mississippi River was the same as Tom Sawyer did. Young Samuel must have watched, as any boy might, admire the strength of this river and the surrounding frontier. He seen men killed in waterfront brawls and Negroes that were chained like animals transported up and down the river for slavery in the south. "Sometimes he would have nightmares by walking in his sleep because of the ride ways and the terror (American Authors, 193).

His family migrates to Hannibal, a port town on the Mississippi River, which became the motivation for the majority of his job, but his most distinguished work that reflects this is The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain attended school from 1840 to 1849. Around 1847 twain establish holding jobs at newspapers, which eventually led him to leaving school and taking full time positions as a novelist. Twain also became a pilot for a riverboat until the Civil War broke out causing him to lose the job he had. “During the war and post-war years he remained with newspapers and gazettes, working towards his writing course which he is noted for today”.

280. Detroit: Gale, 2013. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.

98. Detroit: Gale Research, 1997. Literature Resource Center. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.

176. Detroit: Gale, 2013. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 23 Jan. 2014.

Vol. 187. Detroit: Gale, 2014. Literature Resource Center. Web.

Explicator 60.4 (2002): 207. Literary Reference Center. Web. 15 May 2014. McCormick, Frank J.

While living in Hannibal, Samuel developed a very strong bond with the Mississippi River. He had always imagined being a steamboat captain. Although he had always wanted to that, his first job was actually being a Printer’s Apprentice. He took this job in 1848 which was a year after his father had died. Once 1851 hit, he started to submit sketches to his brother’s journal “Hannibal.” Soon, he became the editor of the journal in place of Orion.