Mark Twain

1290 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Mark twain's contribution to american literature

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.
Mark Twain was born on November 30, 1835 in a small town called Florida, Missouri. He was the sixth of seven children of his father, John Marshall and mother Jane Lampton Clemens and only three of his siblings would survive to adulthood. At the age of four, Mark moved to Hannibal, Missouri a port town next to the Mississippi river in hopes to a better and improved living condition. Hannibal consisted of slaveholding families that provided a mix of southern tradition and frontier life, a lifestyle that would later influence Twain’s writings, including the Adventures of Tom Sawyer. In his youth, Mark was very mischievous, just like his character Tom Sawyer, Mark spent his childhood with a gang of boys, that would participate in mischief. Mark, being accustomed to life on a river became interested in becoming a steamboat pilot. Mark’s schooling ended at the young age of twelve because his father passed away.
After Mark’s father John died in 1847 the family greatly struggled financially. To help aid his family in this economic upheaval he became an apprentice of a printer’s shop and wor...

... middle of paper ...

...ion of over thirty, books, stories, and essays. Mark Twain died of a heart attack on April 21, 1910 and remains one of and if not the most influential and greatest American author of all time.
The writings of Mark Twain remain in libraries, on bookshelves, and in the minds of people everywhere. Mark captured the American spirit with humor, through personal experience, and wrote about topics that the average person could relate to.
During the long life of this incredible author, he experienced many things and worked as many different professions. Mark Twain worked as a printer's apprentice, a gold miner, a confederate soldier, a riverboat pilot, a speaker, a businessman, and of course, arguably the greatest American writer of all time. Mark Twain also left an everlasting influence on the hundreds of thousands of people all over the world that have read his works.

Show More
Related

  • Mark Twain of Huck Finn - Satire

    854 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Mark Twain Research Paper Outline

    1122 Words  | 3 Pages

    Samuel Clemens, also known as Mark Twain was a well know writer, riverboat pilot, journalist, lecturer, entrepreneur and inventor. He was born on November 30, 1835, in Florida, Missouri and died on April 21, 1910, in Redding, Connecticut. His two most well known books are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and

    Read More

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

    1662 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Racism In The Adventures Of Huck Finn Analysis

    1155 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mark Twain is a well-known novelist; his novels were a wide range from humor, details, and well-known characters. His most known literature, which are his classics include, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twain’s notorious novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, has been and continues to be very controversial due to the fact of him describing racism, yet not calling those acts racism.

    Read More

  • Culture And Cultures In The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain

    1246 Words  | 3 Pages

    Samuel Longhorn Clemens, or better known as Mark Twain is recognized for his novels set in his adolescence (America 's Story from America 's Library). Mark Twain was born on November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri and was the sixth of seven children. At the age of four, Mark Twain moved to a small frontier town in Hannibal, Missouri, on the banks of the Mississippi River with his family. Years later, on April 21, 1910 Mark Twain died in Redding, Connecticut in his sleep. Mark Twain’s purpose for writing his novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was to provide a clear view of the culture and lifestyle during the period of the novel.

    Read More

  • Abolitionist Mark Twain

    1400 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, is considered a classic novel from the realism period of American Literature that accurately depicts social conventions from pre-civil war times. Despite this reputation as a historical lens of life on the Mississippi River, elements of blatant racism overshadow the regionalist and realist depictions. Huck Finn does not promote racism because all derogatory or racist remarks are presented as a window to life during the 1850s, in a satirical context, or to show Mark Twain's moral views on racism.

    Read More

  • Mark Twain Mississippi River Essay

    901 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mark Twain was a free spirit with a love for the outdoors, Twain had felt closely tied to the grand Mississippi River. Mark Twain was so tied to the river that he took to his pen name from a river people used to call that meant “ two fathoms deep”. Twain grew up in the city of Hannibal, Missouri a town located directly off of the river. Mark was so in love with the river and steamboats he pursued his dream and at the age of twenty-one he became a riverboat pilot. During the civil war the Mississippi river was closed to all traffic so Twain decided to pack up and head west to Nevada. This is where Twain took to journalism and began to develop the style of writing that made him, so famous

    Read More

  • Mark Twain Research Paper

    783 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mark Twain who's real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born on November 30, 1835 and later died April 21, 1910. He was best known as an American humorist and for his realistic view of America in the early nineteenth century through his novels and other stories he had wrote. He had the whole worlds interest through his expert writings and lectures.

    Read More

  • The Mark Twain Thesis

    688 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mississippi Twain tells us of a man with a dream. As imperfection has it this

    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 in America. Most famously known for his work The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The 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.

    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

  • The Life Of Mark Twain

    1417 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mark Twain was born in Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835. He was one of the foremost American philosophers of his day; he was the world's most famous humorist of any day. During the later years of his life he ranked not only as America's chief man of letters, but likewise as her best known and best loved citizen.

    Read More

  • A Brief History of Mark Twain

    1091 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are many quotes to describe a classical American author, but Ulysses S. Grant describes one particular true American author as “. . . the simple soldier, who, all untaught of the silken phrase markers, linked words together with an art surpassing the art of schools and into them put a something which will bring American ears, as long as America shall last, the roll of his vanished drums and the thread of his marching hosts.” (American Experience, Grant’s Memoirs) Mark Twain is this simple soldier who is a true American author who expressed America with his writings. He fought for America in his writings as he did when he fought in the Civil War; the realistic literary time period. And his travels around the nation and life-changing experiences influenced him to write for the American readers to imagine what he viewed. Twain is a true American author due to his life events that influenced him to share with his beloved readers.

    Read More

  • How Did Mark Twain Influence American Literature

    1131 Words  | 3 Pages

    A prospector of the world, the humble beginnings of Mark Twain had an impact on his storytelling and the foundation for which he bestows his inquisitional spirit of relentless eagerness for creative extrapolation and the fascination of the ability of humankind and their inner functions of societal community. Born in November 30, 1835 in Florida Missouri according to his memoir his childhood consist of being gravitated he gravitated toward the inner workings of steamboatmen and how grateful he was to be present in some rather peaceful and whimsical moments, or so as he describes it. HIs influence also changed the way American literature was represented and distributed across international audience in a way that brought about an emphasis on out-of-box

    Read More

More about Mark Twain

Open Document