Mark Twain

Samuel L. Clemens
By: Emily Jones
Samuel L. Clemens was a great author, miner, riverboat pilot, printers’ apprentice, and a friend to presidents and European Royalty. Yet, he is not known by many, at least, not when he goes by Samuel. Many people know Samuel L. Clemens as “Mark Twain”.
Samuel Clemens was born on November 30th, 1835 in Florida, Missouri. He was the son of John Marshall (a lawyer) and Jane Clemens. Mark had 6 siblings, yet 3 died at an early age.
Samuel grew up in a port city named Hannibal, Missouri. There, he watched river boats go to and fro and America grow and expand her water ways. Much of his inspiration from his books he gathered was from this small town.
When Samuel was twelve, his father died. He had to quit school to help take care of his family. He first took the job of a printers’ apprentice but later worked for his brother Orion who owned a newspaper, “The Journal”. This is the turning point in Samuel’s life.
In the fall 1856, Samuel moved to Cincinnati, but didn’t stay long, in spring; he boarded a river boat and headed to New Orleans. While on the boat, he aroused an old love and ambition; to become a steam boat pilot. He convinced the pilot of the boat, Horace Bixby, to take him on as an apprentice. After 17 months, in April of 1859, he got his license to pilot a steam boat between St. Louis and New Orleans. While he piloted up and down the Mississippi, he met many new people and they became the inspiration for one of his best books “Life on the Mississippi”.
The Civil War put and end to Samuel’s piloting days so he set out west with his brother Orion to make a fortune mining silver and gold. After 5 intense years, he finally to again became a journalist in Virginia City, near one of the richest silver mines ever discovered. While there, he wrote a few humorous stories under the name “Josh”. These stories helped him get a job and the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise during the summer of 1862.
It was here that Samuel Clemens turned into Mark Twain. While working at the V.C.T.E., he discovered that many of the miners sought friendship with him and “he could swing more votes than the elected representatives”. He chose the name because it was and old river term meaning “two fathoms” or 12 feet.
In May of 1864 he left for San Francisco where he became a reporter for “The Morning Call”, while also writing stories for 2 magazines. This is when he got offered a good sum to describe a tour of the Mediterranean and Palestine.
Mark was not shy on these trips. It is said that he laughed at some of the most famous points of interest and made fun of American tourist who admired what ever the tour guides praised. He often boasted of “The New Worlds” superiority over the older civilizations, but he still took his job seriously. These observations later appeared in his book “The Innocents Aboard”. This book paved the way for his second major career- public lectures.
By the time he was 34; Mark Twain had painted himself a fine picture of America and was a national figure. Even with all his work and travels, he still found time for his love- Olivia Langdon- and he married her in 1870. Together they lived in Hartford, Connecticut for 20 years where they had four kids’; Langdon (who died at a young age), Susy, Clara, and Jean.
In Hartford, Mark wrote some of his most popular books; including “Roughing It”, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; Tom Sawyers companion “. Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn where based on his own experience during his childhood along the Mississippi. But he also wrote books based on literary models popular in the East, such as “The Prince and the Pauper” and “A Connecticut Yankee in King Authors Court”.
But with great success comes great fall, which occurred in the 1890’s and the last 20 years of Mark’s life were not pleasant. He became depressed, despite his wonderful humor. He wanted to have faith in God, but for some reason couldn’t convince himself that such a thing was real. He often attacked people who weren’t happy with the money they made yet he himself attempted to make more and more. In 1893, the national financial crisis left him deep in debt. His favorite daughter Susy died while he was on tour and his wife died of poor health in 1904, his youngest daughter Jean, died just 4 years later. His writings became dark and depressed, often reflecting his own feeling and crisis.
Finally on April 21st, 1910, God put him out of his misery and he died. He was mourned more universally than any other American author before him. Ironically, Halley’s comet passed over in the same month he was born, November of 1835. He predicted that he would die when Halley’s Comet passed over again. On April 20th, Halley’s Comet passed over, the next day, Samuel L. Clemens died of heart failure.


Samuel L. Clemens aka Mark Twain


http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Did_Mark_Twai ... y_siblings
http://www.barbsbooks.com/M_Twain.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain

I thought that your paper on Mark Twain was okay but, it was a little bit like an info dump. In the paper you have a overwhelming amount of information ranging from his family life to his description of a tour of the Mediterranean and Palestine.Another thing I think you might want to work on is the smoothness of your transitions going from one paragraph to the next.

It was here that Samuel Clemens turned into Mark Twain. While working at the V.C.T.E., he discovered that many of the miners sought friendship with him and “he could swing more votes than the elected representatives”. He chose the name because it was and old river term meaning “two fathoms” or 12 feet.

In May of 1864 he left for San Francisco where he became a reporter for “The Morning Call”, while also writing stories for 2 magazines. This is when he got offered a good sum to describe a tour of the Mediterranean and Palestine.

for example the transitions between the paragraph and the next seem rough because the last sentence in the first paragraph does not conclude that paragraph. I know almost nothing about Mark Twain so I can't give you a synopsis but as a rule of thumb the transition and conclusion should leave the reader feeling satisfied.Overall I think that you have a great paper. I hope that my review helps you. Fiction

Hello!

This is quite good, but rough. You seem to skip about a bit, and your comma use is a little iffy. I liked this though because it was very informative, although I think it could be condensed to be more concise.

Samuel L. Clemens was a great author, miner, riverboat pilot, printers’ apprentice, and a friend to presidents and European Royalty. Yet, he is not known by many, at least, not when he goes by Samuel. Many people know Samuel L. Clemens as “Mark Twain”.
Samuel Clemens was born on November 30th, 1835 in Florida, Missouri. He was the son of John Marshall (a lawyer) and Jane Clemens. Mark had 6 siblings, yet 3 died at an early age.

This is not the best opening sentence. The use of commas make it feel like a list. The sentence in red is is a little confusing and it may have to be read again to be understood properly. It may read morely clearly if you wrote, "Samuel L. Clemens was a famous man, yet not under his real name. His pen name, which is Mark Twain, is the one readers and writers alike remember today". Something to that effect.

You should mention his first attempt at journalism a bit more, because later in the essay you mention that he tries journalism again later in his life. You never said he tried journalism earlier, but instead he simply worked for a printer's press.

You should make the transitions a little more clear between each paragraph, so it doesn't read like a list.

That's all I could find. This was very informative and I didn't really know anything about this author so I liked it a lot. Note my notes though, if they make sense.

Good job,

Esther