Mark Twain- American Success Story

Family

Background

Samuel Clemens was born on November 30, 1835, in the tiny village of Florida, Missouri, the sixth child of John and Jane Clemens. When he was four years old, his family moved to Hannibal, Missouri(Mark Twain Biography). It was a bustling town of a thousand people which later provided the setting for his most famous works The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Although Hannibal was a fun and interesting setting for his stories, the town was very violent. Young Sam was a unsmiling fellow but his mother, however, was a fun-loving, tenderhearted mother who became head of the household in 1847 when John died unexpectedly

The Conclusion

When The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn finally did come out in 1884, his wife was critical of it(Rosado, Erika). The majority of the country thought quite the opposite of the book and it became an instant hit. In 1885, he triumphed as a book publisher by issuing the bestselling memoirs of former President Ulysses S. Grant, who had just died. He spent many hours on this and was certain that his efforts would be rewarded with enormous wealth, but he never achieved the success he expected and his publishing house eventually went bankrupt(Mark Twain Biography).

Mark Twain said “all you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure to find you”(Mark Twain Quotes). He had both and he became one of the most influential writers in American history. He revolutionized the way American literature was composed for the next century and still to this day.

The War and the Wild Wild West

As the war began, the people of Missouri angrily split between support for the Union and the Confederacy. Clemens chose to join the Confederate Army in June of 1861 but served for only a couple of weeks because his volunteer unit disbanded. After this he wondered; what would his future hold? What place would bring him both excitement and cash? His answer was the great American West. In July 1861, Twain climbed on board a stagecoach and headed for Nevada and California, where he would live for the next five years. At first, he prospected for silver and gold and was convinced that he would become the savior of his struggling family and the sharpest-dressed man in Virginia City. Nothing panned out, and by the middle of 1862, he was flat broke and in need of a regular job. Clemens knew his way around a newspaper office and was in need of money, so that September, he went to work as a reporter for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise where he became one of the best-known storytellers in the West.

• "The Innocents Abroad," 1869
• "Roughing It," 1872
• "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer," 1876
• "The Prince and the Pauper," 1882
• "Life on the Mississippi," 1883
• "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," 1884
• "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," 1889
• "The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson," 1894
• "The Mysterious Stranger," (1916)
• "Letters from the Earth," ( 1962)

Most Famous Works

His Big Break

He got a big break in 1865, when one of his tales about life in a mining camp, "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog," was printed in newspapers and magazines around the country. His next leap came in 1867, when he took a five-month sea cruise in the Mediterranean, writing humorously about the sights for American newspapers with a goal of writing a book about the trip. He did achieve this goal and in 1869, The Innocents Abroad was published, and it became a bestseller. At thirty four, Samuel Clemens had become one of the most popular and famous writers in America

The Marriage

In February 1870, he improved his social status by marrying twenty four year old Olivia Langdon, the daughter of a rich New York coal merchant(Mark Twain Biography). He wrote to a friend shortly after his wedding and said "I have the only sweetheart I have ever loved ... she is the best girl, and the sweetest, and gentlest, and the daintiest, and she is the most perfect gem of womankind”(Mark Twain Quotes). Samuel hoped she could change him to an eastern way of thinking but thankfully his “low minded” Western voice broke through on occasion.

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