How Did Mark Twain Influence His Writing

American Author, Mark Twain, known for his humor, became a internationally known author in his time if life during the civil war days. Mark Twain, or Samuel L. Clemens, became one of the most well renowned authors of his time. He was greatly influenced by history and the events of his childhood. As an author, he addressed many social issues and for such things his works became controversial.
In America at this time the civil war was coming to an end. Mark Twain's career took place the 1850s to the 1880s. For the literary time world this was a time of romanticism, realism, and idealism. Many writings of this time were greatly influenced by politics, so most american literature took place in America. The common style found in the majority
of the literature of the time was humorous. The authors that took on this style can be separated into two different political groups of yankees and southerners. The Yankee literature seems to focus more on the social and political scene and give the author’s opinions on such. The southerner’s group, which includes Mark Twain, showed more imagery and often took to the democracy of Andrew Jackson.("American Literature")
Samuel Clemens was born in Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835, to Jane and John Marshall Clemens. His family was poor and he was born weak and sick.("Mark Twain") Sam’s father, John, was a slave owning lawyer who kept store in Hannibal, Missouri. He was also the Hannibal county commissioner. Later, Clemens’ family developed the nickname “Little Sam” for Samuel.(Lauber) Samuel and his six siblings later moved to Hannibal, Missouri because of finance issues.("Mark Twain")(Whitaker) At the age of 4, his sister and brother died and at age 12 his dad died. John’s death was detrimental to the family since they were already in debt so they had to sell much of their property.("Mark Twain") Samuel married at the age of 35 to Olivia Langdon on February 2, 1870. Clemens met “Livy” in Elmira, New York while in the city for work. During their engagement, Samuel would send Olivia books he had read through. He underlined sentences and phrases for her to read but eventually he just wanted to write that he loved her.(Lauber) Samuel would later have 4 kids with Olivia. His only son, Langdon, died early of diphtheria, but his daughter, born March 1872, would survive. Her name was Olivia Susan Clemens but they nicknamed her “Susy”. He also had two other daughters, Jean and Clara.("Mark Twain") Mark Twain had many, many careers in his lifetime.
He ended school education at 14. Soon after, he went into an apprenticeship under Joseph Ament in printing and publishing. At the time, Twain was not interested in writing at all. Under his apprenticeship he learned to read and write properly. This newfound skill allowed young Samuel to find a hidden interest in writing journals. When he grew older he worked for his brother Orion’s printing company and, in 1850, he wrote journals for his paper. When Twain was 18, he left Hannibal, Missouri to move to St. Louis with Orion but Twain’s goal was to get to New York City. His first published writing was titled A Gallant Fireman and was published January 16, 1861. As he published more and more, his publishing name changed. His birth name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens but as his popularity grew, his pen name change. He eventually settled on Mark Twain but before then his name seemed everchanging. It started as his real name but changed to S.L Clemens, SLC, W. Epaminondas Adrastus Perkins Balbb, and finally, Mark Twain. After he gained a reputation for writing, Mark travelled for a while doing printing and writing. Twain later became a steamboat pilot apprentice to Horace Bixby, a soldier, and mined with his brother
Orion.(Lauber)
As Twain got into writing, he wrote journals, but later he began writing novels.(Lauber) Mark was notorious for his humorist, realistic style. Many of his writings included themes of racism, nostalgia, and the pre-Civil War lifestyle. He was greatly influenced by his childhood home in Hannibal, his morals, events of his life, and history. Twain was on of the first people to have international fame.(Marshall, "Tom Sawyer") Some of his most famous novels include, Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, and The Gilded Age.(Marshall, "Twain, Mark")There were many critics that expressed their opinions on Twain’s works. Because of the topics in his writings being controversial in his time, many were negative. That being said, there have been many critics, in history and of modern day, that have thought highly of Twain’s writings. When mentioned in an article, it was written that, “Despite his flaws, he was one of America’s greatest writers. He was a very funny man. He had more skill than his teachers in selecting evocative details, and he had a genius for characterization.”.("American Literature") A fellow American author, Ernest Hemingway, also had positive thoughts on Twain. He stated that, “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn”. Hemingway thought so well of Twain’s novel that he says, “....It’s the best book we've had.” Even today there are positive critiques on Twain’s novels. Elizabeth Nix writes that Huckleberry Finn, “was Twain’s masterpiece.”(Nix)
The highly praised author spent his later life writing, travelling, and even starting his own publishing business. Tragically, this business failed and, because he had put so much money into it, he put him and his family into debt. Shortly after his family began to recover, his daughters and wife passed away. Slowly, his writings began to fall short of his reputation for humorous, happy, and young content. They became dull, full of philosophies on human behavior and selfishness. On April 21, 1910, Twain died of heart disease.(Marshall, "Twain, Mark")
Mark Twain, the well known, humorist, author, lived a full life. He spent it pursuing what he wanted to do and made everything he did count. After his death, he left behind a multitude of uncompleted works. A majority of these works have been published. Mark Twain’s literary legacy certainly has not died with him.