Mark Twain - Research Paper Example

MARK TWAIN Outline A) Introduction. B) Biography. C) Influence on American Literature D) Conclusion Foreword: This research paper discusses the role Mark Twain played in the development of American Literature. Thesis: Twain’s works became the turning point in the history of American literature development because they brought the poor class in the spotlight of public attention. Being a writer from the country Mark Twain managed to become a real idol for many generations of Americans. In his books he combined humor, realism and naturalism. In his later works the author turned to some philosophical and ethical problems. Mark Twain was an outstanding American writer and journalist in the USA of 19th century. His works cover many topics among which are the follows: realism, romanticism, humor, satire and along with this the author was on the position of humanist and democrat. On the top of his career he was considered to be the most readable and well-known author in America. According to Ernest Hamingway, the real American literature started with Mark Twain. William Folkner called Twain “the first real American writer” (Lenard, p. 12). The pseudonym was taken by Samuel Langhorne Clemens from his youth when he served on the sheep. He was a pilot’s assistant on the river Mississippi, and the “mark twain” denotes the minimal depth for vessels to pass by. Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born November 30, 1835 in a small town Florida. The writer even joked that his birth increased the population of the town by 1 percent. He was the third child in the family of John and Jane Clemens. Still a little child, Twain moved with his family to Hannibal, Missouri. This very city was later described in his novels especially in the one named “The Adventures of tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. After the death of his father the young man had to earn money and that is why he went into marine business. Mark Twain once told that working on a sheep was his cup of tea and but for the civil war he would have stayed there forever. The war made Samuel move to the west where he developed as a writer. The events that took place in that time underlie the plot of the next book. In Nevada Samuel tried to grow wealthy, and with the view of this he became a miner digging for silver. He described his life in a camp with other workers on several pieces of his literature. In 1864 he came to San-Francisco to work as a journalist. Then, Samuel was sent to Hawaii in order to write letters about his travel. After Samuel’s coming back he found out that those letters became extremely popular as short stories in America. The colonel John McComb, the editor of “Alta California” suggested Twain going on a tour around America lecturing about his adventures. The lectures at once attracted much attention and were very popular with the citizens. The author even managed to earn on these lectures charging one dollar as an entrance fee. The real success waited for Samuel in his second trip to Europe and Middle East. “A Tramp Abroad” is the first book that made hi famous with fiction literature. During his life the majority of people knew him as the author of this piece of literature. The most interesting feature about mark Twain as a writer is the fact that he started with writing humorous light stories and finished with the works on ethics, morale that rose the problems of hypocrisy, nobility and murder. The author was also a good orator, he did much to create and develop the American literature as a constituent part of the world literature. Becoming famous and gaining respect Mark Twain paid much attention to finding new literary talents and helped them to make their way through using his power and glory. Samuel Clement was interested not only in literature but also in scientific work. In his work “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court” Twain showed the journey through time that brought all modern technologies to the times of King Arthur. Besides being interested in literature and sciences, Samuel was keen on smoking pipe and playing billiards. The guests of Twain would say that there always was such thick smoke in his house that they could hardly see each other. From time to time some works by Twain were forbidden by American censor because of different reasons. The main reason was Twain’s social activity. Several writings that could hurt the feelings of religious people Clements even did not dare to publish. For instance, the novel “A Mysterious Stranger” was left unpublished. Speaking about the writer’s style it is necessary to point out that it differed greatly from the one of his contemporaries. All of them were trying to make there style high and florid in order to follow the English poets. Mark Twain employed realistic American colloquial speech that enabled people to reevaluate it. He was the first writer from the poor family who managed to reveal in his works the differential, full of bright humor slang and the struggle against prejudice. For Mark Twain as well as for others writers of the end of XX century, realism did not represent just a literary method but the approach used to express the feelings and to bring truth to a reader. Thus it had a deep liberation nature and surely there arose some contradictions with the community. This though is vividly depicted in the book “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” where a tramp-boy decides to help a Negro slave to escape from his owner, despite the fact that he is sure in his getting to Hell for violating the law. In this writer’s outstanding work the events take place in a small town named St. Petersburg that is situated on the Mississippi. The author in his novel opposes the civilized society and the free life, where the later is admired by him. The main character is an energetic boy, full of optimism and never looking back – he wants to live free life because it doesn’t have any household churches, suit collar and the duty to visit church every Sunday. The end of the story represents quiet the opposite thing to the “American dream” – the wide road leads to primeval nature farther from the damaging influence of civilization. Other examples of such ending can be found in the novels of Fennimore Cupper, anthems of Wall Whitman and novels of Jack Kerouac. Huckleberry Finn inspired numerous authors to make a great number of interpretations of it. It is clear that this story has the elements of demise, revival and initiation. Huck treats the runaway slave Jim like his father, and by helping him he overcomes the limitation degradation of the slaveholding system. It is the adventures of Jim that introduce Huck to the complications of the human nature and at the same time give forces to him. Mark Twain’s model of the ideal society is clearly described in the novel – the main thing for all people who are on a raft not to argue and to be satisfied with everything (Lenard, p. 23 ). The characteristic feature of Twain’s humor is the vague link between reality and fancy. Subtle and varying river as an essential part of the scene portraying can be often found in his works. While serving on the vessel in his youth Samuel tried to study the river, but of all his attempts to catch something subtle this issue was the most mysterious. Being a writer for Twain is like being a pilot on the vessel – he must deliver the guests to the final destination. Two literary styles are combined in the works of Mark Twain they are: the popular humor of new Land and so-called regionalism. These stiles appeared in 1830-s, though their roots go into the local folklore. The stories were composed in poor houses in the country, in the mines, in he woods around the fire and then they became popular among people by the word of mouth. Humane, sardonic, compassionate, impatient, complicated and attentive, extremely funny and sometimes dramatically honest, he was the source of inspiration for many famous writers of the XX century not only in America but in the whole world. The genii of literature were amazed by Twain’s ability to work miracles with the speech of ordinary people. Concluding the role of Mark Twain (Samuel Langhorne Clemens) in the history of world literature it is necessary to point out that he became the real founder of American literature because he symbolizes freedom of choice for a writer weather to write about ordinary people or rich and famous ones. He introduced the slang speech of poor Americans as well as the speech of slaves into American literature. The writers before Mark twain tried to follow the authors from Europe in their desire to sound sentimental, elevated and noble. His works became the turning point in the history of American literature development because they brought the poor class in the spotlight. Moreover the author dared to raise the problem of the slavery in America. LITERATURE 1. Lenard, James. Making Twain Work in the Classroom. Duke University Press: Durham &Lond, 1999. 2. Kiskis, Michael. “The Reverend Mark Twain: Theological Burlesque, Form, and Content”. The Mississippi Quarterly, Vol. 57, 2004. 3. Stoneley, Peter. Krauth, Leland. Mark Twain & Company. Six Literary Relations. Studies in the Novel, Vol. 37, 2005 4. Gertlund, Jan Wordby. Mark Twain. Journal of Southern History, Vol. 71, 2005 http://www.marktwainhouse.org/ 5. Mark Twain in his Times. http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/railton/index2.html. web. 22 Oct. 2010 Read More