Govt, Postgraduate College for Women Gulberg Lhr

Presentation

Subject
American Literature

Submitted To
Ma’am Aneela Altaf

Submitted By
Afreen Choudry, 1822116001

Class
Bs II, English Literature

Semester
V

Session
2018-2022

Topic
Mark Twain’s life history and his writing style
Mark Twains's Biography:
Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born in Florida, Missouri on November 30, 1835. He would
later go by the "pen name" Mark Twain as a writer. Young Samuel grew up in the small town
of Hannibal, Missouri with his sister and two brothers.
The town of Hannibal was located right on the Mississippi River and Samuel loved to watch
the river boats pass by as a kid. Many of Mark Twain's stories were inspired by his own
adventures on the river. Growing up, Samuel dreamt of someday becoming a steamboat
pilot.

Early Career:
At the age of 11, Samuel's father died. To help the family, Samuel quit school and went to
work as an apprentice for a printer. It was here that he learned about writing. Samuel was a
funny kid and his writing reflected his personality.

A Steamboat Pilot:
Around the age of 21, Samuel decided to pursue his dream. He trained as a pilot on a
steamboat. He had to learn all the potential dangers and snags along the lower Mississippi
river. It took him two years of hard work and study, but he eventually earned his pilot's
license.

Heading West:
When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Samuel moved out west. He earned a living writing
for newspapers. He soon began writing short stories. His stories were funny and full of
adventure. His first real popular story was called "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of
Calaveras County."

Where did the name Mark Twain come from?

When he started writing, Samuel took on the pen name Mark Twain. The name comes from
a term used on steamboats to signal that the water was 12 feet deep.

Famous Books:
Mark Twain wrote a number of books. Some told funny stories from his own travels such as
Roughing It and Innocents Abroad. Other popular books include The Prince and the
Pauper, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Life on the Mississippi,
and Pudd'nhead Wilson.
Twain's most famous books are the two "river novels" that tell the adventures of young
boys on the Mississippi River. The first was The Adventures of Tom Sawyer(1876) and it was
followed up by The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885).
Later Life:
Twain's love for adventure and risk got him into financial trouble later in life. He invested his
earnings into failed businesses and inventions. In order to pay the bills, he travelled around
the world giving lectures and speeches. They were very popular and he was eventually able
to pay off his debts.

Death:
Mark Twain died of a heart attack on April 21, 1910.

Mark Twain Quotes:

"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it
and remove all doubt." "The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else
up."
"The secret of getting ahead is getting started."
"Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please." "Kindness is the language the
deaf can hear and the blind can see."
"If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything."

Interesting Facts:
Mark Twain married Olivia Langdon in 1870. They had three daughters and one son. He
joined a Confederate militia for two weeks at the start of the Civil War, but quit before he
had to fight. He was a strong supporter of putting an end to slavery. He also
supported women's rights and suffrage. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is sometimes
referred to as "The Great American Novel." He claimed to have foreseen his brother's death
in a dream a month before his brother died.

Mark Twain's Writing style:

Mark Twain, counts as one of the most important American writers, and his style has
influenced countless writers.

Characteristics:
Twain's narrative writing style belongs to what people call South-western humour. This
regional style of writing features earthy language, at times crude humour and doses of
cruelty as well as stock characters and situations in which the trickster triumphs. Twain's life
in Hannibal introduced him to many of these character types; it was there that he
familiarized himself with character types such as slave dealers, riverboat travellers and
gamblers. For example, one of Twain's most famous characters, Jim in "Huckleberry Finn,"
starts out as a stock character but is transformed when Huck starts to see him as a person.
This style of writing marks the ending of Romanticism and the beginning of Realism in
American literature.
Twain has a distinctive style that is evident throughout his works. Twain’s careful choice of
diction and vivid descriptions give his novels a sense of realism amongst an element of
adventure. Mark Twain is known for his repeated use of pointed satire and his use of
vernacular dialogue, as well as his calculated yet carefree writing style, imagery, and use
of child heroes in some of his most famous novels.
Aside from his trademark use of vernacular dialogue, Twain also develops a nearly
palpable setting for his novels through the use of imagery. The combined use of dialogue
and imagery inject a sense of realism to his settings and characters, allowing for better
enjoyment of the story and easier relationships between the reader and the
characters. Twain establishes both the small, typical Southern feel of St. Petersburg and the
gritty yet luxurious elements of London through imagery and descriptive language, often
using figurative devices such as similes to develop a scene. The imagery serves to transport
the reader to each scene, such as the night following Tom Sawyer’s witnessing of Doctor
Robinson’s murder: “The ticking of the clock began to bring itself into notice. Old beams
began to crack mysteriously. The stairs creaked faintly” (Twain 69). The imagery
establishes a nearly tangible sense of fear and dread, and it provides a dark and ominous
tone to the scene. The element of realism among the adventurous, fictional elements is a
large part of what makes Twain’s novels so well loved by audiences, young and old.
Twain’s poignant satire and social commentary play an important role in many of his
works. Twain is famous for his criticisms of American society, both in his stories and in his
own world. He effectively communicates his views in a manner that is not overbearingly
obvious through the eyes of his characters and the lessons that they learn throughout the
novels. Tom Canty and Edward Tudor’s adventures and exchange of lives highlight Twain’s
dislike for the disparity between social classes based on monetary wealth, while Tom
Sawyer and Huck Finn’s moral maturation illustrate Twain’s criticisms of racial
discrimination, the motivation of greed in society, and the corrupt nature of the adult world
prompting the loss of childhood innocence. Satire is a powerful weapon in Twain’s arsenal,
and coupled with his use of appropriate vernacular, descriptive imagery, and calculated yet
carefree diction, Twain is able to effectively communicate deeper meanings and underlying
themes through relatively simple stories.
In both The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,
Twain’s writing style is, at first glance, sloppy and unrefined. The raw, uneducated
vernacular of the people of St. Petersburg can be convoluted and full of slang that it is
difficult to understand. However, upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that Twain’s
diction is carefully calculated to give the reader the sense of a carefree narrative. As
eloquently stated in a literary criticism article regarding The Adventures of Tom
Sawyer, Twain’s writing style is characterized by his adroit use of exaggeration, stalwart
irreverence, deadpan seriousness, droll cynicism, and pungent commentary on the human
situation. All of this is masked in an uncomplicated, straightforward narrative distinguished
for its introduction of the… vernacular into American fiction that was to have a profound
impact on the development of American writing. The slang, numerous abbreviated words,
and blatantly incorrect grammar serve to develop the characters in a more human
way. Twain also uses vernacular outside of the Southern setting of St. Petersburg. Twain’s
dialogue in his novel The Prince and the Pauper illustrates Twain’s perception of the
dialogue of sixteenth century England. The novel mixes Twain’s trademark, seemingly
carefree style in the narrative with the exaggerated formalisms of the Old British vernacular,
such as the phrase “Learning softened the heart and breadth gentleness and charity”
(Twain 39). Twain also the dialogue in The Prince and the Pauper to highlight class
differences, as the vernacular of the beggars is much rougher than the overly formal and
educated exchanges of the nobles.