Mark Twain was an influential person to American Literature. I have read his most famous books. I have read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I have chosen Mark Twain because I know a little about him already. I have also chosen him because I loved Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. His book was very interesting and enjoyable. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn taught me if I really want something, I will do anything for it. Huckleberry Finn faced so many challenges between his father, Jim, Miss Watson, and civilization. He just wanted to have his freedom. Along his adventures, he made a friend named, Jim, who was a slave. Huckleberry Finn knew he and Jim could get in trouble for hiding out. Huckleberry Finn did not once care about the consequences. He wanted Jim to have a chance at freedom too. He did not want to be selfish or unmannerly, even though he had not quite learned all the ways of being respectful.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens is known as Mark Twain, was born on November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri. He is the son of John Marshall and Jane Lampton Clemens. He has six siblings and second to the youngest. In 1839, Mark and his family moved to Hannibal, Missouri on the Mississippi River. Mark liked his time in Hannibal and spent it “watching steamboats, swimming, fishing, and pretending to be pirates” (Bodden 12). This town was a great place but came with many horrors such as “vipers’ nests of cruelty, poverty, drunkenness . . . Twain’s boyhood experience” (Biography.com Editors). Hannibal, Missouri influenced Twain’s writing life. Mark Twain grew up in a slave state, which did not bother him. Twain uncle, John Quarles, owned many slaves. Mark Twain use to go talk to the slaves and listen to their stories. In 1847, Twain was 11 when his father died. Twain had to drop out of school to work for the family. He and his family struggled greatly after Marshall died. Twain began working for the local newspaper. In 1850, he went to work for the Hannibal journal. At the Hannibal journal, he realized he enjoyed writing. On January 16, 1851, his first story was published in the Western Union. March 4, 1857, Mark Twain piloted his first voyage on the Mississippi River. On April 9, 1859, he got his pilot’s license. The American Civil War began in 1861, and Twain could not steamboat anymore.
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Following, on September 1861, Mark Twain moved to Virginia City, Nevada. He worked as a reporter for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise. In 1863, his name became Mark Twain because of his steam boating days. He wanted to have a different name on his writings. In May 1864, Twain moved to San Francisco, California. He became a reporter for the Daily Morning Call, wrote for the Golden Era, and Californian journals. Twain wrote Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog and it was published on November 18, 1865. He did not go to California to write but “searched for silver in the West” (Tieck 15). He wanted to help his family out of struggling. While Twain was in the West, he wrote Roughing It. This book was about the Native American Tribes he came across there. Later, Mark Twain wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in 1876. Mark Twain wrote this book based on his life on the Mississippi River. Then in 1885, he published Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This book was a sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is appreciated “for its language and . . . issues of race” (Bodden 30). These books are Mark Twain’s biggest literary accomplishments in history.
Furthermore, Mark Twain met a man named Charley Langdon. Langdon introduced Twain to Olivia Livy. Olivia and Charley were siblings. Olivia Livy was the daughter of a very wealthy man. Mark Twain and Olivia Livy got married on February 2, 1870. They moved to Buffalo, New York and had a son on November 7, 1870. Then on October 1871, they moved to Hartford, Connecticut. March 19, 1872, Olivia Livy had a daughter named Olivia Susan. Langdon died later that year of Diphtheria. In 1874, Twain and his family moved in a three-story house in Hartford. The house is now one of the famous Mark Twain museums. Also, in 1874, Twain and Livy had a daughter named Clara. In 1880, Livy had another daughter named Jean. Twain and his family traveled to Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Paris, and England. On August 19, 1896, Olivia Susan died of Spinal Meningitis. June 5, 1904, Olivia died of heart failure. In 1909, Jean died of Epilepsy. Then on April 21, 1910, Mark Twain died of a Heart attack. Clara was the only one to out live her family. She became a writer like Mark Twain. Clara lived until 1962 when she died of a heart attack.
In conclusion, Mark Twain left behind a wonderful legacy. Mark Twain was an influential person to American Literature. He inspired many writers even after his death. Twain was just trying to support his family and became famous along the way. He slowly progressed in his writings and became rich. His whole writings were based on his life and what he had seen. He reached people greatly through his writings. He went through great happiness, pain, and tragedy. Even though he was well rich after some writings, he wanted to write more just for more money.
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