What Made Him Great

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist. He wrote The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the latter often called "the Great American Novel."

Twain was a revolutionary. He changed the way for American literature. He did it the American way as well. Traveling from the east to the west and taking what he had learned along the way to create amazing stories. The adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck Fin are the most ironically recognized stories of our generations. The basis of these stories are from the adventures of Mark Twain from his early years of being a rambunctious child to the later years of understanding that the confederates were fighting over something he didn't believe in. He portrayed in his writings to styles of slavery, anger, manipulation, starvation, and greed. Both of these books were coming of age novels and are used for teachings nationwide in schools for all ages. People for years have tried to pull the books from schools saying it’s the wrong teaching for kids, but to me teaching isn't always about what's right but more of the fact of how to choose what's wrong. For example, in Huckleberry fin he shows Huck as a racist steeling kid who eventually realizes that steeling and racism is not what makes a man but for what he does with it. As quoted by William Faulkner, "the father of American literature". Before Mark Twain there were many who tried to embrace what American society had to offer but could not grasp the general public. Mark Twain was able to do this not only through these books but through his travels and preaching of these morals. People of Mark Twain’s era lived in such a conflicting time frame. With war, and racism, and religion all being questioned, Mark Twain used them all to teach and embrace change. If you were to type in Google what is one of the most recognized authors in the world Mark Twain’s name will come up. He helped change the views of many. Without his interpretation on Ulysses S Grants memoirs, he would of been one of the most hated Generals ever known. He is one of my favorite writers and this blog is a tribute to what he had done for us and memorial of his great achievements.

This link is a picture of the Mark Twain Memorial Tribe

Financial Trouble

Mark Twain never really cared about money. People may argue this point with great passion but to me any individual that loved the work they do could care less about the money they make. It's all about the passion in his writing that depicts he loved what he did, and the money was just a bonus. Well until he lost it that is.

Mark Twain grew up very poor. He never had much growing up and had gotten into a lot of fights in his early child years. He made his initial money working for as a printer apprentice with his brother at Hannibal Journal. His brother owned the company. He liked this job but wanted to venture west to find new offerings. He eventually became a river boat captain, hint hint. He met many people on his way west including a tribe of Indians, sailors, and even investors. On his way west he met up with hi brother once again. He met up with him  in Nevada but moved further west to Virginia City, Nevada. His brother was working as a secretary to James W. Nye, the governor of Nevada Territory. Twain wasn't to enthusiastic about working as a secretary, so he had tried his luck mining for silver in this small town. He eventually failed at that and once again began working as a printer for the Territorial Enterprise. Here is where he had his break through. He had wrote a story called "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County". He had written from a story he had heard when mining in California.

Twain made a majority of his money in his writings. From the beginning with The Celebrated Jumping From of Calaveras County to his critically acclaimed writing of The adventures of Tom Sawyer. This was only to be short lived with horrible investments. He loved science and technology, so much that he had invested over $300,000.00 of his money into a company that was creating to obsolete the man driven printing press. Coming from a printer background he had thought this was a great investment. Knowing now that he had lost everything to a company buying and squishing the product. $300,000 today is almost equivalent to $8.2 millions dollars. This money wasn't all his. He had taken a hefty amount from the inheritance of his wife. What most people don't know is that because of this huge loss of money is to why he went on a book tour. He filed for bankruptcy in 1984.

The tour he had gone on was to pay back the debt he not legally had to but morally felt needed. He traveled to Hawaii, Fiji, New Zealand, and UK. All of which he put on plays and acted out books. The people loved him. They loved him so much he to this day is known as one of the first World wide celebrities.

This is the face that most people think of when referring to Mark Twain. He made this character as a second alter ego. Anytime he was to take a picture or be interviewed or even in public he would be wearing his iconic White Suit. Anyone else think he looks like Coronel Sanders?

Early Life of a great.

Mark Twain : Known by most as the Father of American literature.

 

Mark Twain was an exceptional character. His real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. He was raised along the Mississippi river. He was a troublesome boy in his early years as depicted with the character Tom Sawyer in the book, "Adventures of Tom Sawyer" He grew out of this stage in life with his first job as a printer apprentice. He worked there for many years before becoming a river boat captain. This was a main setting for what was famously written in the book "The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin.". This book was a sequel to the Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Once the civil war had started the river boat scene had no longer taken place on the Mississippi river. He was jobless and needed a new profession. He decided to fight in the civil war. He just so happen to fight for the confederates, my opinion was because he grew up in the south and was expected to fight for the south. After realizing that the war was not worth dying for so he had left the volunteer position he was in and headed to San Francisco California. This is where the true Mark Twain everyone knows really started. But what most really don't know is that Mark Twain was not just an author. He had three patents and a wide range of inventions that he and his good friend Nikola Tesla had created together. Which in hand had made him a very broke individual. He had to file for bankruptcy and give all publishing rights to his wife for legal reasons. The very reason he had become famous was to pay back the debt he created for himself as in investing in inventions like the Paige Typesetting Machine. Mark Twain had written some of the most amazing coming of age novels of his time. He paved the way for literature in the early 1900’s. Many people believe that without Mark Twains out of the box thinking, many authors would still be stuck in the age of writing what was to be thought of and not what has happened with a twist. A famous quote that I like to remember, “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” – Mark Twain.




Below is a little documentary that I had found by the History channel. It explains the life of Mark Twain a lot of people never knew about. Trivia… How did Mark Twain get his name?