Samuel Longhorn Clemens, Mark Twain - 875 Words

â€Å"I am not an American, I am the American† (Duncan and Ward). Quoting his friend Frank Fuller, Twain boldly declares himself the embodiment of American living, and in all honesty, with some right to do so. Twain was born in 1835 to parents John and Jane Clemens under Halley’s Comet in Florida, Missouri and later moved to Hannibal. He would later die under the same comet 75 years later in 1910. He traveled along the American South and Midwest writing as he went, originally moving west with his brother, Orion, in 1861 hoping to strike it rich in Nevada’s silver rush (Ramussen). Twain’s real name was Samuel Longhorne Clemens but took on the name Mark Twain as a reference to a measurement in his job as steamboat captain, a job that would†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"The Anti-Imperialist League sprang into being to fight the McKinley administration’s expansionist moves†¦ including the presidents of Stanford and Harvard Universities, th e philosopher William James, and the novelist Mark Twain† (Bailey, Kennedy, and Cohen 637). Twain should be an inspiration to the masses to follow what you believe in. He incorporated these beliefs into his writings. Further, Mark Twain covered a large range of areas in his writings transitioning from an almost silly humorist to a serious writer who attacked his targets with much darker view of the world. When he began, Twain was a humorist writing books like The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, the book that skyrocketed him to fame in 1867 (Bailey, Kennedy, and Cohen 580). Later on he wrote possibly his most famous book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which was a heartwarming tale of a boy who travels down the Mississippi River helping his friend and ex-slave escape. In his story, that was very unusual for his time, he used the dialects of the people along the river, something unheard of in his current era of writing. In his later years his wrote angrier and h arsh works such as The Mysterious Stranger a tale in which the devil visits an Austrian village in the Middle Ages. â€Å"As Twains career progressed, he seemed to become increasingly removed from the humorous, cocky image of his younger days† (Gribben). Twain neverShow MoreRelatedHuckleberry Finn, By Samuel Longhorn Clemens1520 Words   |  7 Pagesapplicable to this paper. They are as follows: 1. (adj.) the essence of a thing while in it’s purest and most concentrated form. 2. (adj.) The most typical example or representative. Huckleberry Finn, written in December of 1884, by Samuel longhorn Clemens (under surname â€Å"Mark Twain†) encompasses the life, thoughts and adventures of the 12-year-old title character Huckleberry â€Å"Huck† Finn. Throughout the book Huck struggles with a negative opinion of racism and slavery that is otherwise not voiced by your