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

1662 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Huckleberry Finn analysis

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. .

Show More
Related

  • The Second Child Of John Marshalll And Jane Moffit Clemens

    783 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Mark Twain of Huck Finn - Satire

    854 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mark Twain, a famous American writer and satirist, wrote many highly acclaimed books throughout the world. His masterpiece, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, earned him recognition as one of the greatest writers America would ever produce. The novel follows a teenage boy named Huck Finn, whose father is an alcoholic. Due to his father's violence, Huck runs away and meets a runaway slave named Jim. Instead of turning Jim in, Huck goes against society and decides to help Jim break free from slavery.

    Read More

  • Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    965 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is one of the greatest American novels ever written. The story is about Huck, a young boy who is coming of age and is escaping from his drunken father. Along the way he stumbles across Miss Watson's slave, Jim, who has run away because he overhead that he would be sold. Throughout the story, Huck is faced with the moral dilemma of whether or not to turn Jim in. Mark Twain has purposely placed these two polar opposites together in order to make a satire of the society's institution of slavery. Along the journey, Twain implies his values through Huck on slavery, the two-facedness of society, and represents ideas with the Mississippi River.

    Read More

  • The novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Samuel L.

    1732 Words  | 4 Pages

    The novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Samuel L. Clemens, whose pen name was Mark Twain, presents the evils of southern societies during the pre-Civil War period in America. The novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Samuel L. Clemens, whose pen name was Mark Twain, presents the evils of southern societies during the pre-Civil War period in America. Clemens, a well-respected author, "began writing The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in 1876 and, after several stops and starts, completed it in 1883" (19). This novel revolves around the theme of slavery versus freedom, and was published at a time when most southern landowners still "owned" slaves.

    Read More

  • Huckleberry Finn Historical Events

    630 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mark Twain, the author of Huckleberry Finn, went through multiple significant historical events, which clearly impacted the book. A major historical event he lived through was the pre-Civil War era, as well as the Civil War. Since slavery and racism was heavily present, Mark Twain had to struggle through the decisions of whether to support slavery and viewed how severely it affected people. This forced

    Read More

  • Portrayal of Jim’s Life in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    936 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mark Twain, who is a realistic fiction writer, incorporates satire and humor in his writing, including Archetypal elements to modify how the reader interprets the story. He uses many archetypal characters like Huck and Jim who both can be argued as the heroes. They both have good intentions and help others. Mark Twain portrays Jim as a deeply caring and loyal friend. Jim becomes a father figure to Huck, helping him realize the human face of slavery. Twain Portrays Huck as a young and naive boy who has been under the wrong influence for a long time. Another archetypal element that Mark Twain uses is Jims Quest for freedom. This was a quest for most all African Americans, to run away north so you could be free. But Jim was one of the few who was brave enough to do so; that’s he can be classified as the hero in the story. But Jim’s life is not too bad compared to historical records about the lives of slaves. Even though he had to struggle for his freedom, he didn’t have any good reason to leave. His life contested of helping round and not doing hard enduring work like some of the other slaves. The way Jim’s life is portrayed in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Mark Twain criticizes the life of African Americans at the time.

    Read More

  • MARK TWAIN

    831 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mark Twain also known as Samuel Clemens. He was born in Florida, Missouri on Nov 30,1835, the sixth child of John and Jane Clemens. Several years later, in 1839, the family moved to nearby Hannibal, where Clemens spent his boyhood years. Clemens boyhood dream was to become a steamboatman on the river. Clemens' newspaper career began while still a boy in Hannibal. In 1848, a year after his father death, he was apprentice to printer Joseph Ament, who published the Missouri Courier. Did tragedy make Samuel Clemens (Cox Clinton).

    Read More

  • Mark Twain and Huckleberry Finn

    1526 Words  | 4 Pages

    The issue of slavery was important to Twain which was the reason morals were portrayed in this way. The freedom and peacefulness of the river soon gave way to the

    Read More

  • Mark Twain's The Celebrated Jumping Frog Of Calaveras County

    961 Words  | 2 Pages

    Shortly after moving to the Mississippi, Clemens was apprenticed to a local printer and his newspaper career began. He wrote several short stories during the early 1850s and received experience in the literary field. In 1857, his newspaper career was interrupted when he learned how to be a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi. During his travels on the river, a crewmember shouted “mark twain,” which indicated that the boat was approaching water with a depth of twelve feet. This became the pen name that Clemens used to publish all of his notable work,

    Read More

  • Mark Twain

    1290 Words  | 3 Pages

    Samuel Langhorne Clemens, also known as Mark Twain, was a world famous novelist whose works are still read and praised. Twain was a renowned American writer who wrote about his personal experience of the world and surroundings. In Twain’s memorable life he was a confederate soldier, a printer, a gold digger, business man, a riverboat pilot and above all he was a natural writer, who self-taught and entertained. His literary works are famous for their lifelike details, humor, and characters. Mark Twain is not just famous for his writings, but his achievements, home life, and greatest accomplishments are what has made him the famous writer known today.

    Read More

  • Satire In Mark Twain's Short Stories

    1324 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mark Twain uses humor, irony and satire in his short stories. Also known as Samuel Clemens, he was a writer of the late 19th century of America. Most famously known for his work The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain was born on November 30th, 1835, in the state of Florida, Missouri. He was the sixth child in his family, making him the youngest child. Twain is also remembered as an “American humorist and novelist, [who] captured a world audience with stories of boyhood adventure... with commentary on man's shortcomings that is humorous...” ("Mark Twain"). He was well complemented by various other novelists.

    Read More

  • Samuel Clemens

    638 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Huckleberry Finn Book Report

    1094 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens on November 30, 1835, in Florida, Missouri. When Samuel Clemens was four years old, his family moved to Hannibal, Missouri, where he spent his childhood. Clemens first approach to literature was through typesetting for a newspaper in 1851. At the time Orion, his brother, was a newspaper publisher in Hannibal. From 1857 until 1861, he served as the pilot of a riverboat on the Mississippi River. He later used this experience in creating his novels. His first writings appeared in a newspaper on February 2, 1863 under the pen name “Mark Twain.';

    Read More

  • Mark Twain's Influence on American Literature

    1193 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Mark Twain: Humor, Vision and Literary Influence

    1406 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

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

Open Document