While he was there, he met the lovely Olivia Langdon, the daughter of a New York coal merchant who knew the ins and outs of life in high society. Twain fell in love and married her in 1870. He also firmly believed the Olivia could be the thing that could reform Twain and make him into a gentleman that could survive in the east coast scene. Twain had four children with his beloved wife. It was also during his marriage to Olivia that he peaked in his writing career. In 1876, Twain wrote “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, which was an American classic that is still very popular today, but this was not his greatest work. In 1884, Twain published “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, a classic tale of a boy travelling the Mississippi River with his slave friend, Jim. This book was read throughout the country and secured Twain a spot as one of the most influential writers in American history. Although Twain was riding high during these years, he would be plagued by anguish during his later …show more content…
He was one of America’s first celebrities, Twain was famous for being famous. Although the following years would prove to make Twain’s life a living hell. Between 1895 and 1909, Twain lost three of his four children. Worst of all, in 1904, while Twain was abroad, he lost his beloved wife to a long battle with an illness. Although Twain was almost always travelling or away from home and his wife, it was still apparent that he loved his wife. On top of these deaths, Twain was in dire straits in terms of finances. He had spent much of his money investing in new forms of technology, which ultimately burned him. Twain did bring dignity to former president Ulysses S. Grant, he published his memoirs and pull the former president out of his financial troubles. He also spent some of his time with a club for girls he formed, he viewed the young girls as surrogate granddaughters and brought him joy. Sadly, Twain became a bitter old man in his later years, he was sweet to the public, but was very mean behind closed doors. Twain died April 21, 1910, with the coming of Halley’s Comet. In fact, he predicted his death, as he said, “I came in with Halley 's Comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don 't go out with Halley 's Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt: 'Now here are