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 Mark Twain

Christopher Chen May 5, 2008 Mr. Coull Channel B

"Mark Twain is among America's greatest writers" (Stump, par. 1). "In small house in a village in Missouri, the wail of a newborn baby shattered the night. He was the family's fifth child. They called him Samuel Langhorne Clemens" (Carew, par. 1). "His early occupations included apprenticeship to a printer, writing for his brother's newspaper and, just as importantly in retrospect, piloting ships on the Mississippi (where, incidentally, he was actively discouraged from reading). It was this latter job that provided material for his most famous books, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), and gave him his working name." (Bibliomania: Free Online Literature and Study Guides).

"His best-known books are 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' and 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'" (Carew, Abstract). The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is based on the life of Samuel Clemens. Like his character, Tom Sawyer, Mark didn't like to follow rules either. "To Samuel, rules were chains, and only fools submitted to them" (Carew, par. 19). "Something else that helped him achieve greatness in the world was that he was determined. He set goals to write his books and set many goals to write magazine articles, newspaper articles and other types of articles. A third thing that helped him achieve greatness was that he had perseverance. That quality helped him write books because he kept on trying to think of varied ways to write his stories and articles. Finally, Mark Twain learned from his experiences. He learned early on that his readers liked different writing styles. He didn't disappoint them when he wrote his humor, satire, and adventure. If his books got bad ratings, he would know not to try something different. Some of his characteristics were integrity, sense-of-humor, and initiative." (Mark Twain, par. 2).

"Twain spent his summers on his farm near Elmira, New York, and it was there that he wrote the Adventures of Tom Sawyer published in 1876. The main character in this book, Tom, is really Mark Twain when he was a young boy.. The adventures the author had on the Mississippi are the same ones his character has in the novel. Another character, Huckleberry Finn, is really Tom's close boyhood friend, Tom Blankenship. Twain later wrote Buck's story in the sequel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in 1884.

These two books about boyhood adventures in a growing America are among the most popular books ever published in the United States. It is little wonder that for young and old alike Twain's writing has provided generations with a touch of humor, a bit of history and a lot of entertainment" (Weston, par. 4 - 5).

"Mark Twain was now writing many humorous sketches" (Carew, par. 27). "Eventually, one of these humorous sketches caught up with Twain" (Carew, par. 28). "Disappointed and humbled by this experience, Mark Twain once again was out of work. So he joined the gold rush. In the gold fields, the miners would sit around the fire at night and tell stories to amuse each other. An old miner named Ben Coon told a story about a frog, a frog who could jump farther than any other frog.

Mark Twain liked this story and decided to write it down, just as Ben Coon had told it. He called it “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog.” The story was published in a New York paper. It was an instant hit, going on to appear in every major magazine in America. Mark Twain had leapt into fame with a frog. He became known as the “Wild Humorist of the Pacific Slope”"(Carew, par. 29 - 30). At this time, Mark Twain was a great writer. "He knew just when to pause, exactly how to build a mood, how to make people laugh, and how to create a warm and friendly atmosphere" (Carew, par. 31). "Mark Twain was now 30 years old, and his popularity was growing. He toured the country and published a collection of his humorous sketches. For the next 20 years, writing and lecturing were his main occupations. He became a best-selling author and a famous lecturer. Like most other successful writers, he wrote best about what he knew. Two of his best-known books are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Both novels are about the lives of young boys. This isn't surprising, as Twain believed childhood was the most wonderful part of life. He once wrote, “When one writes a novel about grown people, he know exactly where to stop—that is, with marriage; but when he writes of juveniles, he must stop where best he can”" (Carew, par. 33).

"Twain’s follow-up to "Tom Sawyer," "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," was published in 1884 and is generally considered Twain’s most accomplished work. Not unlike Charles Dickens’ works, such as "Great Expectations" (published in book form in 1861), Twain uses the rites of passage from childhood to adulthood to explore issues of morality and inequality. Huckleberry’s main accomplice in the novel is a slave named Jim. The Mississippi River and the story’s discussion of the morality and complexity of slavery anchors it firmly in the Antebellum South" (Pearson, par. 4).

"Huckleberry Finn, by general agreement, is Twain's finest book and an outstanding American novel" (Durway, par. 11). "Its narrator is Huck, a youngster whose carelessly recorded vernacular speech is admirably adapted to detailed and poetic descriptions of scenes, vivid representations of characters, and narrative renditions that are both broadly comic and subtly ironic. Huck, son of the village drunkard, is uneducated, superstitious, and sometimes credulous; but he also has a native shrewdness, a cheerfulness that is hard to put down, compassionate tolerance, and an instinctive tendency to reach the right decisions about important matters. He runs away from his increasingly violent father and, with his companion, the runaway slave Jim, makes a long and frequently interrupted voyage floating down the Mississippi River on a raft" (Durwayeston, par. 11). "The popular image of Mark Twain was by now well-established. He was a gruff but knowledgeable, unaffected man who had been places and seen things and was not fooled by pretense" (Durway, par. 11). "In December 1909, Clemens' youngest daughter, Jean, died at Stormfield. Immediately after this tragedy, Twain wrote "The Death Of Jean", the last substantial writing he completed. The piece recalled the sudden tragedy of the death, and his feelings regarding the loss of his other family members. Following its completion, Clemens vowed never to write again.

Clemens' health rapidly deteriorated after Jean's death. In January 1910, he went to Bermuda for his health, but sensed that he wasn't to live long. On April 21, 1910, Clemens sank into a coma at Stormfield. At sunset, his heart failed and he died in his bed. He was 74 years old. On April 23, a large funeral procession was held in New York City, and a service was held at the Presbyterian Brick Church. Clemens was buried alongside his wife and children at Woodlawn Cemetary, in Elmira, N.Y.

In November 1835, at the time of Clemens' birth, Halley's Comet made an appearance in the night sky. Strikingly, the comet's next appearance came during April 1910, the period of Clemens' death. Throughout his life, Clemens said that he would "go out with the comet," knowing the 75-year span between the comet's appearances. His prediction was amazingly accurate."(About Mark Twain, par. 29 - 31).

In conclusion, Mark Twain was a great writer that went through very hard situtions in his life. "American writer, journalist, and humorist, who won a worldwide audience for his stories of youthful adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. Sensitive to the sound of language, Twain introduced colloquial speech into American fiction" (Mark Twain, par. 1).

  "About Mark Twain" [Online] http://www.geocities.com/swaisman/, 6 May 2008.

"Bibliomania: Free Online Literature and Study Guides." [Online] http://www.bibliomania.com/0/0/54/frameset.html, May 6, 2008.

Carew-Miller, Anna and Di Gennaro, Andrea. "MARK TWAIN." Great Neck Publishing 2003. History Reference Center. [Online] EBSCOHost, 5 May, 2008.

Durway, Julie Doyle. "Meet Mark Twain." Appleseeds. 2005. History Reference Center. [Online] EBSCOHost, 5 May, 2008.

"Mark Twain" [Online] http://www.kyrene.k12.az.us/schools/brisas/sunda/great/2jon.htm, 6 May, 2008.

"Mark Twain" [Online] http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/mtwain.htm, 6 May, 2008.

Stump, Julie. "Mark Twain: A Musical Biography/Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." World Almanac Education Group Inc. 3/15/2008. MAS Ultra - School Edition. [Online] EBSCOHost, 5 May, 2008.

Weston, Debbie. "Mark Twain." Morning Call April 2001. History Reference Center. [Online] EBSCOHost, 5 May, 2008

