Mark Twain

America's Greatest Storyteller

Biographical Information

Hannibal, MissouriPopulation of 1, 00080 miles north of St. LouisOn the Mississippi RiverThis place helps older Twain create his setting

for Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn

Learning to understand the life of Mark Twain

Missouri was a slave state by constitution The famous Missouri Compromise in 1820

Introduced young Clemens to two dark things about the reality of human existence

Slavery Death

Careers Newspaper writer

New York Philadelphia St. Louis Keokuk, Iowa

River Boating1857: Cub pilot on

the river boat “Paul Jones”

He work for four years as a pilot. Earned his license in 1859

Biographical InformationTwain had a deep passion for the Mississippi River. The Mississippi River is used as the setting for his book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.Twain writes:“When I was a boy there was but one permanent ambition among my comrades on the west bank of the Mississippi River, that was to be a river boat pilot.”As a child, what did you have a passion for: do you still have that passion? Write your answer on your note paper on the back. Write 4-6 sentences.

Understanding Mark TwainIn 1870, at age 35, marries Olivia Langdon.Olivia was part of a prominent abolitionist family.Her family helped to influence his writings and views.He later made an acquaintance with Frederick Douglass.

As time goes on and life happens…As Twain got older, his works got darker, mirroring the reversal of fortunes in his own life.Bad healthBankruptcyOlivia’s bad healthChildren's health issuesThe death of his daughter, Susie

Realism:Style and Voice

RealismPeriod of American Literature 1865-1900A literary style that is faithful to representing actuality.Opposes Romanticism which wanted to transcend the

real and find the idealRealists focus on the immediate, the here and now

Real descriptions of the common, the average, the every day. Realists authors believe that plot and form should be

avoided. Fiction truthfully representing life should be concerned with

ethical issues more that plot or form. Characterization is central to the novel. Tone is often comic, frequently satiric and seldom grim.