Comparing Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn And The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer

Mark Twain defined American literature and changed it forever. Mark Twain’s real name was Samuel Clemens. He was a very powerful American author. Some of his most famous works are The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, his most famous being Huckleberry Finn. He wrote during the realism movement, right after the Civil War. Some literary techniques he used were symbolism, imagery, and allegory. “Mark Twain’s writing applied to all people because he wrote with normal speech, words that may not be proper English, but still used everyday. He also added aspects of life in his works so that the reader could relate to the characters and events.” (Byrne) Mark Twain’s works helped define American literature, helped African American voices to …show more content…
He was the 6th child of his parents, John Marshall and Jane Clemens. John Marshall, Samuel’s father, was a judge and died when Samuel was only 12 years young. (Nagel) After his father died, he left school and went to work for a printing shop. He became very interested in writing and ended up writing his first piece in a Boston magazine when he was only 16 years old. “After he traveled for 4 years as a journeyman printer, he became a riverboat pilot.” (Emerson) He got the name “Mark Twain” while he was a riverboat pilot. ““Mark Twain” is a lead man's cry and it means that there is two fathoms of water, just deep enough for a steamboat to pass.” (Nagel) After the Civil War ended his career as a riverboat pilot, he became a reporter for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise. That is when he first started to use the name “Mark Twain” for his humorous writings. In 1864, he moved to California and then created his first famous piece in 1865 called “Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog”. “After doing an assignment in Hawaii, he then came back to New York and began writing regularly for a newspaper in San Francisco.” In 1870, he married Olivia Langdon and they