Mark Twain - (1835-1910)
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Village Community School, New York City
Read another essay on Mark Twain written by Illinois students
Jeff Creek and Adam Thies. I. Biography Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born on November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri. This boy
would later become known for his philosophical and witty remarks as well as for his lush and tasteful world-renowned works of writing. Throughout his adult life Twain went in and
out of New York for varying amounts of time. This is evidence of his lust for travel, which is also expressed through many of his books. He got his pen name when he spent
two-and-a-half years as a riverboat captain. 'Mark Twain' is a term used to mark safe waters or twelve fathoms. This part of his life impacted on him so much so that he began
calling himself Mark Twain, after the riverboat term. All of his books were published under this name, yet some of his earlier articles are written under his real name, Sam Clemens.
Twain's father, John Marshall Clemens, worked as a professional lawyer, and some say, also a merchant. John had brought Twain's three older siblings, Henry, Pamela, and Orion,
to Florida, Missouri from Jamestown, Tennessee. Twain's mother, Jane Clemens, gave birth to him in Florida as the Haley's Comet arrived and just five months after the family moved
and after John had established a small business. Yet within four years John decided to leave Florida for the more promising Mississippi River town of Hannibal, Missouri. One of Twain's most famous books, Tom Sawyer
published in 1865, is considered to be an almost autobiographical account of his childhood here. By the time Twain was twelve, his years at the John Dawson's School in Hannibal were
over due to his forty-nine year old father's death in 1847. Twain became an apprentice to a printer named Ament to ease his mother's duties. While Orion, now twenty-two, continued
his already-established career in the printing trade, and Pamela pursued her interest in music as a music teacher. Henry soon dies in a steamboat accident in 1858. This
arrangement carried on for the next three years until 1850, when Orion bought out a small paper and turned it into the home-based Hannibal Journal. As it took up part of the
Clemens' homestead, Twain joined his beloved brother Orion and they ran the small paper business together. It was not the best of all 'country papers' (nor was it the worst) but
they still managed. It was actually here, with this small co-owned paper, that young Twain began his writing career (while still known as Samuel Clemens). When Orion was not
around Twain would publish his own short articles (under the pen name of Josh), which were said to have caused ridicule and problems when Orion returned. But the tiny business
still went on and Twain's talent still remained unnoticed. Hungry for adventure and untamed freedom Twain, not yet turned eighteen, announced to
his family that he was taking off for St. Louis with the travel bug already in him. But instead he kept on going east until he hit New York. There, during the time of a World's Fair, he
found work in a printing office on Cliff Street in 1853. After being gone for more than a year he returned West, having visited both Philadelphia and Washington after spending
months in New York. Little did Twain know that he would return there for a later portion of his life. During Twain's traveling adventures Orion had moved to a part of Iowa known as
Muscatine and then to Keokuk. Twain reunited with Orion here while both were still involved in the printing trade. In 1854 Twain then caught the South American Fever and in the winter of 1856 – 1857
decided he would go to Brazil. The latter part of that winter was spent in a printing office in Cincinnati. Twain headed for New Orleans in April of 1857 on a little steamer, expecting a
South American vessel to be found there. Yet somewhere on the course of this search he met Horace Bixby and diverted his intentions after a sudden change of heart to become a steamboat pilot. This is all recorded in Twain's book
Life on the Mississippi published in 1883. Within eighteen months Twain knew much about the Mississippi River and became one of its best and more careful river pilots. He continued in this newfound profession for a
successful and disaster-free two-and-a-half years. By January of 1861 the Civil War had started and it affected Twain's piloting career. During
this time he found his sympathy much with the South and therefore he enlisted. With bad weather conditions that downplayed the ease of being a soldier, Twain resigned from the
force after just two weeks as Lieutenant Clemens. Twain joined his brother Orion, newly appointed as secretary of the new territory in Nevada by Lincoln. The overland journey the two brothers made is recounted in Twain's
Roughing It published in 1872. Twain became Orion's private helper and secretary and then took up the field of mining. After becoming a
professional miner in the Esmeralda district of Aurora, California Twain was called in by the owner and editor of the Virginia City Enterprise newspaper, Joe Goodman. Twain
sometimes contributed small sketches (again using the pen name of Josh) to the newspaper and Mr. Goodman who, good with his literary instincts, easily spotted Twain. He asked
Twain to take up the local editorship of the paper in the late summer of 1862. To take the job Twain walked 130 miles to the destination in Virginia City. When he started his new
employment he had a salary of twenty-five dollars a week. He began with smaller things and then reported when the legislature convened at Carson City. It was just after this that
Twain decided to call himself after the riverboat term 'Mark Twain.' Soon enough his name and his articles became known all across the states. Later Twain left Carson City and traveled to San Francisco working for the
Morning Call and sometimes writing for the Golden Era and the Californian. This brought in a good profit during the more busy parts of the year.
During the winter of 1862 - 1863 he moved from San Francisco to Hartford, Connecticut and then to Elmira, New York. One of the main reasons for choosing Elmira was that he knew a
man named Charles Langdon whose twenty-two year old sister, Olivia, fascinated him. Upon seeing a picture of her he fell in love. He located Olivia and soon after the two got
engaged. She later became his editor and held that job until her death. Innocents Abroad was published and released in 1869. It sold over 100,000 copies in only
three years, breaking all current records. It was based on a trip that Twain took with American tourists to the Holy Land. It was the next year in 1870 that Mark Twain decided to settle down and get married after
an engagement of two years. He married his love, Olivia ("Livy") Langdon in Elmira, New York. They then chose to live in Buffalo, New York. Here, working as an editor and writer, Twain was employed at the Buffalo Express.
It was not long before the couple had their first child, a son, Langdon. His first name obviously derived from his mother's maiden name. Sadly, however, Langdon wasn't a very strong child even at birth and he died at
nineteen months, upon the couple's return to Hartford, Connecticut in 1872. The next two years Twain spent all over the place. From 1872 to 1874 Twain and his family
made several trips to England and wrote briefly for several publications. Also during this time, Olivia gave birth to their first two daughters, Susy in 1872 and Clara in 1874. Soon
after Clara was born he settled back down in Hartford with his family. The next seventeen years were spent for the most part happily in Hartford, with their summers in Elmira.
During these years Twain became known as one of the greatest writers of his time. This title stayed even after death. Part of this success is credited to the publishing of Tom Sawyer
, now a classic, in 1875. Five years later in 1880, the third daughter was born into the Twain family, Jean. Although falling victim to many commercial scams during this time, Twain managed to release other classics such as
The Prince and the Pauper in 1881; Life on the Mississippi in 1883; Huckleberry Finn in 1884; and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court in 1889.
In 1891 Twain moved his family, consisting now of three daughters, to Europe. It was there, living in Florence, Italy (and traveling through Germany and France as well), that he began
his three-year journey into bankruptcy. During this three-year period he briefly returned to America on business and then moved his family again, this time to Berlin, Germany. He
traveled between his family in Berlin, and New York where he made many public appearances to earn money. However, Webster & Co., the publishing company Twain
started on his own went into bankruptcy in 1894. It wasn't until later that year when Twain anonymously submitted Joan of Arc to Harper's Magazine that he was finally able to get
back on his feet. Also later that year he published Tom Sawyer Abroad. The year previous to this he published Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar for 1894. A year later he published The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead
Wilson and the Comedy Those Extraordinary Twins. In 1895 Twain, now sixty, decided to give a lecture tour around the world. Because Twain's own publishing company could not afford it, he struck a deal with
Harper & Bros. to publish a book about the tour. This tour proved very successful in raising money and most of what he made on this tour helped him to pay off his remaining debts.
However, everything has its price. In the midst of Twain's travels Susy, at age twenty-four, died of Meningitis. Nearly a year after his daughter's death and after spending a few
winters in Vienna trying to console himself, and a little bit more time touring, he published Following the Equator, the book which recounted his lecture tour. This same year, 1897,
Twain's brother and mentor, Orion, died. This only caused more grief. Shortly after he lived in Austria, he paid off what was left of his debts, and traveled to Prague, Sweden,
Budapest, and London in 1899. Then he briefly lived in London. Finally he took up residency in Riverdale, New York along with his family. During this time he traveled,
appeared publicly numerous times, and published a new detective story. However, by 1903 Olivia was in failing health so the family moved once again to Florence, Italy seeking a
more tranquil environment. It was, however, to no avail for Olivia died soon after. In 1904 Twain moved his family back to New York once more, this time in the city on Fifth
Avenue, where daughter Clara had a nervous breakdown due to her mother's death. They remained in New York until 1908. For the duration of this time Twain did many things. At
the White House he dined with Theodore Roosevelt. Twain turned seventy in 1905. He traveled through the states and The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories as well as Chapters From My Autobiography
were published in 1906. Also in 1906, Twain had an author come stay in his household for a short time in order to write his biography. Interestingly, he also began to wear white suits (that ironically matched the color of his
hair) as opposed to the black ones he wore for most of his previous life. He moved to Tuxedo Park, New York and traveled to England for the last time in 1907. By now Twain had
collected numerous honors such as a Master of Arts degree from Yale and a doctor's robe and honorary degree from Oxford. After moving to Redding, Connecticut in 1908 it wasn't long before he released his final
masterpiece, a short story called "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg." In 1909 one of Twain's daughters, Jean, suffered an epileptic seizure and died. Soon after Twain moved to
Bermuda and then back again to America suffering many griefs and a heart broken more than just once. He died later that year in Stormfield, Connecticut. II. Literary Discussion
Mark Twain's literature was some of the best American writing ever done. He had all the right ingredients for a great author. One of these ingredients was an unusual and inspiring
early part of his life. He also had the ability to appeal to children and to adults in books like Tom Sawyer. When Tom talked all the kids into whitewashing his fence, adults found it
clever and kids found it funny. The skill of writing clever and witty humor without the use of vulgarity also belongs to Twain and is one that sets him apart from many modern day
writers of books, television, and movies. Twain also had a gift for being informative and comprehensive. He left no gaps in his work. He stressed every detail yet did it in such a way that it did not seem overdone.
Twain's short stories are also very unique. Twain often captured the real way common folk spoke, in dialect. Twain's short stories often seem as though they are folk tales. His
narrators seem to be speaking directly to someone, or to the general public as one. They capture the oral traditions of America. Another one of Twain's traits is that, again due to the language he uses, some of his
writing is almost poetic, especially in his descriptive passages. Not poetic like rhymes, metaphors, or too little or too many words. Poetic because he simply tells it the way it is,
for the beauty something has without jazzing it up. Mark Twain has many other writing traits however we do feel that these are his most significant. All of his works bears each of them strongly. III. List of Works
IV. Bibliography Kaplan, Justin. Mark Twain and His World. London: Simon; New York: Crescent Books, 1974. Twain, Mark. The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain.
New York: Bantam Books, 1957, 1981, 1983. Albert Bigelow Paine, editor. Mark Twain's Letters. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1917. "Samuel Langhorne Clemens: Mark Twain through the Ages." About.com, 2000. This essay was submitted by 8th grade students of Joan Brodsky Schur at the Village Community School, New York City.