Mark Twain

MARK TWAIN

I chose to write about this Author because years after his death his novels and quotes from his writing collection is still being read, though and passed around from generation to generation. I assume that Mark Twain lived a pretty successful life being that his novels and writings are so famous. Mark Twain has many quotes still being spread across the world from his writing which gives me to believe he was a very famous person at this time of living. He also lived in an era where it might have been very difficult to put out his writing due to the civil war that was and had been going on in the United States of America. His first novels were released right after the Civil War had ended. I would believe these times were pretty difficult for anything in the United States of America since the Civil War was Americans against Americans and a lot of people probably didn’t still didn’t trust much. I took my research based upon many websites that had information regarding Mark Twain. What I found is that he had many writings that are still around too many to name. He did in fact have two that were his most famous and that was “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. But I also learn he has problems with the books because he uses the word nigger and it also has to do with slaves. I researched many websites where he still has very famous quotes like
“The lack of money is the root of all evil” about money.
“A full belly is little worth where the mind is starved” about Learning
The ones that I really like is the following quote about self awareness and about success
“A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval”
“Prosperity is the best protector of principle.”

Those were four quotes I wanted to share because I really liked what their meaning meant.
Aside from the quotes he had his famous stories and novels which I will be giving you a short summary then I will be given an analysis on his most famous ones. His ten most famous were “The Innocents abroad” is the story of a cruise to Europe and the Holy Land in 1867. Mark Twain wrote humorous pages of the trip in newspapers. Later these were brought together into a travel book. The book is insightful, funny, witty and tireless. It satirizes the cultures of such places as Italy and Egypt, and offers insights and descriptions that remain fresh even on today’s date. This story was written in 1869 and was his first release right after the Civil War. The second story he wrote was called “Roughing It” and it has the recollections of Mark Twain's life in the West in the 1860s. He lived and worked in Nevada and San Francisco during that time. A large portion of the book covers a trip he made to Hawaii during this time. The narrative is also an important social history on the mining camps and towns in this part of the country. Next we have what was Mark Twain’s most famous novel by the people and himself “Tom Sawyer” is a story of the Adventures of Tom Sawyer, his friend Huckleberry Finn, and his girlfriend Becky Thatcher in the small Mississippi River town of St. Petersburg, Missouri. The novel is considered autobiographical because the characters and setting were based on Mark Twain's boyhood experiences. The main plot developed when Tom and Huck witnessed a murder in the cemetery. Tom revealed that the murderer was Injun Joe. Later Tom and Becky were lost in a cave where Injun Joe was hiding. Tom Sawyer is one of Mark Twain's best loved novels as well. Next we have “A Tramp Abroad “which was told of a traveling experience of Twain and his family in Europe. The book was humorous, but it did not have much success. “The Prince and the Pauper” came a year right after in 1881. This was a story of a switch between a poor boy and a prince. The story takes place in England in the 1500’s. This novel was based on the social norms. The main characters were a young king of England and a poor boy by the name of Tom Canty. The two characters looked a lot like each other in the story. The next book described much of Mark Twain’s life before the civil war before 1861 he worked in the Mississippi river as a pilot. Twain gathered material from this book and wrote “Huckleberry Finn” which is said to be his best work and the next book he wrote. Released in 1884 The adventures of Huckleberry Fin was of a story of a young Huckleberry Fin who had met a runaway slave by the name of Jim. They both went down the Mississippi river from Missouri. The book describes all the adventures during this trip they both made. Huckleberry had ran away from his drunk father and widow which kept trying to force him to learn manners. The story explains the pre civil war life along the Mississippi river valley and how people would interact with each other. It shows the moral choices that a young boy was faced in the era of slavery. During the course of the story, Huckleberry and Jim begin to respect each other and develop a really good friendship and bond. This is said to be Mark Twain’s best novel and by some to be the greatest American novel. This story is the sequel of his first best book the Adventures of Tom Sawyer and was released in 1884. Next we have “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court” The story of a man from Connecticut who travelled back in time to the court of King Arthur in England. The book was an attempt to contrast the harsh living conditions of the poor with the pettiness and snobbery of the aristocrats of that time. The story is humorous and insightful about the human condition. He betrays the foolish knights and dishonest men while building an empire of technology under their very noses. This book was released in 1889 a quote from this book is “You can't throw too much style into a miracle.” Which is like saying if they give you a finger don’t take the hand. Some of my predictions were right he did talk about the slavery pre Civil War times of the United States of America but how he also was able to become friends with a slave. Mark Twain uses his life experiences in most of the novels and stories he has written. The characters are based usually on real life people like himself or friends. He also uses the places where he has traveled and where he has reside in to his advantage on the stories. What surprised me was that I found out he was somewhat humorous in all or most of his stories. I give this experience a great value because I go the opportunity to learn about a great Author in the history of the United States. I was always interested in his name because I had heard the titles of his Novels “The Adventure of Sawyer” and “Huckleberry Fin’. He also has a lot of quotes that are derived from his books that are still being used today. I’m glad I was able to find out more about Mark Twain than I knew about, great accomplished man aside from some family tragedies he lives on today with his writing.