Mark Twain

“Mark Twain” Hannibal, Missouri the Mississippi River humorist, public speaker, novelist, riverboat pilot Samuel Langhorne Clemens

As a young man Twain worked as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River. When he started his writing career, Samuel Clemens adopted the name “Mark Twain,” which meant two fathoms, a safe depth for a riverboat. Pictures from

Tom Sawyer Published in 1876 a “boy’s book” high adventure, mischief, freedom from adult world the world’s introduction to Huckleberry Finn, the semi-homeless son of the town drunk Huck and Tom solve a murder-mystery and receive a large sum of “treasure money” they find.

Huckleberry Finn started in 1876; not finished and published until “fits and starts” set in the 1830s or 1840s -- antebellum South written after the end of the Civil War another “boy’s book”???

“Realism” and Humor literary transitional period -- from Romanticism to Realism dialect slapstick satire

The Controversy in 1885 banned by the Concord, MA. library in 1885; one of the most frequently banned books in American history. “absolutely immoral in its tone”; “rough, ignorant dialect”; systematic use of bad grammar and an employment of inelegant expressions.” “trash of the veriest sort”

The Controversy Today “A masterpiece.” T.S. Eliot “One of the world’s great books and one of the central documents of American culture.” Lionel Trilling “All modern literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” Ernest Hemingway

The Controversy Today Why do many people believe that Huck Finn is a racist novel? the portrayal of the character Jim: “Jim is a white man’s inadequate portrait of a slave.” Ralph Ellison, author the “N Word” »appears over 200 times. Why? The fine line between “satirical” and “offensive.”

“I vividly remember seeing a dozen black men and women chained to one another, once, and lying in a group on the pavement, awaiting shipment to the Southern slave market. Those were the saddest faces I have ever seen.”– Mark Twain Though his most famous novel is criticized for being racist, Mark Twain claimed to have never expected nor intended the controversy that arose with the publication of Huckleberry Finn. Pictures from

"I have no color prejudices nor caste prejudices nor creed prejudices. All I care to know is that a man is a human being, and that is enough for me; he can't be any worse." Pictures from

Racism & Slavery written after Emancipation Proclamation abolished slavery, but time period of story set during slavery during Reconstruction, a less institutionalized form of slavery existed in the South (Jim Crow laws) allegorical portrayal of conditions of “blacks” in U.S. after end of slavery hypocrisy of “civilized” society which values morality, but condones slavery

Hypocrisy of “Civilized” Society society’s laws (Miss Watson and Widow Douglas) vs. higher moral values (Huck and Jim) rules and precepts that reflect faulty logic civilized vs. natural a “just” society that condones slavery unsteady justice is blinded by cowardice, prejudice, and a lack of common sense seemingly good and characters are slave-owners

Freedom importance of individual thinking and ideas escaping an illogical and oppressive society Mississippi River as a safe haven slavery vs. liberty outcasts labeled by citizens (mob mentality) are arguably the only truly free characters

Symbols The Mississippi River a source of freedom; a safe haven Raft tool for escape Money separates the civilized from the “outcasts”

Huckleberry Finn Adventure story Social Commentary Coming of Age (bildungsroman) Morality ‘Self-Reliance’ like Emerson believed Huck Finn Second Overview Huck Finn -- Inrtoduction

He developed as a speaker and traveled on lecture circuits, much in demand. His early performances combined humor, information and eloquence in measures that delighted most people. Pictures from

When he died on April 21, 1910, newspapers around the country declared, “The whole world is mourning.” By then, Sam Clemens had long since ceased to be a private citizen. He had become Mark Twain, a proud possession of the American nation. “I was sorry to have my name mentioned as one of the great authors, because they have a sad habit of dying off. Chaucer is dead, Spencer is dead, so is Milton, so is Shakespeare, and I’m not feeling so well myself.”—Mark Twain Pictures from

“I came in with Halley's Comet in It is coming again next year (1910), and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don't go out with Halley's Comet. The Almighty has said, no doubt: "Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together." Mark Twain died in 1910, the year Halley’s Comet appeared. Pictures from

Bibliography Page "Mark Twain." Public Broadcasting Service. 12 Aug Schmidt, Barbara. "Mark Twain's Quotations, Newspaper Collections, and Related Resources." 4 Sep Aug Pictures from the Dave Thomson collection are found at: "easylit. com." Mark Twain. 12 Aug Railton, Stephen. "Mark Twain and His Times." University of Virginia. 12 Aug 2004.