America's Greatest Storyteller

Biographical Information Hannibal, Missouri Population of 1, miles north of St. Louis On the Mississippi River This place helps older Twain create his setting for Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn

Learning to understand the life of Mark Twain Missouri was a slave state by constitution The famous Missouri Compromise in 1820  Introduced young Clemens to two dark things about the reality of human existence  Slavery  Death

Careers Newspaper writer New York Philadelphia St. Louis Keokuk, Iowa River Boating 1857: Cub pilot on the river boat “Paul Jones” He work for four years as a pilot. Earned his license in 1859

Biographical Information Twain had a deep passion for the Mississippi River. The Mississippi River is used as the setting for his book, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twain writes: “When I was a boy there was but one permanent ambition among my comrades on the west bank of the Mississippi River, that was to be a river boat pilot.” As a child, what did you have a passion for: do you still have that passion? Write your answer on your note paper on the back. Write 4-6 sentences.

Understanding Mark Twain In 1870, at age 35, marries Olivia Langdon.  Olivia was part of a prominent abolitionist family.  Her family helped to influence his writings and views.  He later made an acquaintance with Frederick Douglass.

As time goes on and life happens… As Twain got older, his works got darker, mirroring the reversal of fortunes in his own life. Bad health Bankruptcy Olivia’s bad health Children's health issues The death of his daughter, Susie

Realism: Style and Voice Realism Period of American Literature A literary style that is faithful to representing actuality. Opposes Romanticism which wanted to transcend the real and find the ideal Realists focus on the immediate, the here and now Real descriptions of the common, the average, the every day. Realists authors believe that plot and form should be avoided. Fiction truthfully representing life should be concerned with ethical issues more that plot or form. Characterization is central to the novel. Tone is often comic, frequently satiric and seldom grim.