Literature L2 The Civil War and Gilded Age

Dissertation 6

Marc Twain

One of the most iconic writer in American Literature is Marc Twain who is known as "The

Father of American Literature". Twain, who was born as Samuel Langhorne Clemens in November

30th in 1835, died on April 21 in 1910 because a heart attack. His born and died were coincided to

the return of Halley's Comet crossing close to Earth two weeks before its birth and one day before

its death respectively. His inspiration for writing started when he was 12 after a year of his father's

death. He left school to take up an apprenticeship in a printer. When he was 18 years, he worked at

many newspapers at New York and Philadelphia after he left his home in Missouri. Then, he

returned to home and became a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River. His work stopped because

the Civil War began in 1861 because he joined a Confederate Militia, the Marion Rangers, during
two weeks. His experience is reflected on his short story titled The Private Story of a Campaign

That Failed, in which he reflected his disappointed to the political reasons behind the war.

However, his style is reflected among his all more than 500 works being them humorist like

in The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County which was published in magazines and

articles and paid attention in his readers; besides The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today in 1874, which

showed his transition from short stories to novels. He used to write his two famous novels being

"The Adventure of Town Sawyer" in 1876 and " The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" as a secuele.

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was first published in the United Kingdom in December

1884 and in the United States in February 1885. The novel is among the first in major

American literature to be written throughout in vernacular English, characterized by local

color regionalism. It is told in the first person by Huckleberry "Huck" Finn.

The novel is relevant for its colorful description of people and places along the

Mississippi River. Set in a Southern antebellum society that had ceased to exist over 20

years before the work was published, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an often scathing

satire on entrenched attitudes, particularly racism. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has also

been the continued object of study by literary critics since its publication. The book was

widely criticized upon release because of its extensive use of coarse language.

"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" which tells the life of a boy named Huck

and a runaway black slave named Jim, where a series of adventures experienced by the

characters are described. However, beyond the adventures that both characters live, this

novel has a background that denounces the slavery of people of color. It reflects the

difficult situation faced by black people who were treated as merchandise. If a person
wanted to have servants, he simply had to buy them and if it no longer served him or was

no longer useful, they would sell it to another person, as if it were a simple object.

Another important nuance that the novel has is the thought of Huck who himself

wonders if helping Jim was right. However, friendship predominates more and decides to

help him. Somehow he also lived a kind of slavery with his father, who was alcoholic

person. Huck's thinking can also be reflected in the Civil War; where a war was unleashed

by two sides, some who wanted the slavery system to continue and others who fought to

abolish slavery and that black people could have the same rights and opportunities like

white people. They are also human beings at the same time. just like everyone else. Their

color is not an impediment to having a decent job, being able to study, and walking freely

through the streets.

In conclusion, Mark Twain is the American literature mentor. He stood out for his

different way of writing on topics such as slavery that was lived at that time, in addition to

his style of honesty and truth, he became a modernist writer. Mark Twain was and will be

the greatest American novelist to this day. His work is considered very good and does not

resemble the work of other authors because he liked to write about the society that

surrounded him, most of his writings were inspirations from the events that he witnessed

and lived throughout his life, also for the people than him he met, stories he read or heard

and his own environment, through all that he made his way by himself to become a

successful man, he will never be forgotten for his great novels and great sense of humor

and especially for his important contribution to literature.

NAMES.

 Aduviri Condori Maya Nieves

  Laura Villca Leyner Yamile
 Lucero Calleconde Sara Fanny
 Olmos Mamani Veronica

Resources

 http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/phctf.html

 https://www.abroadintheyard.com/mark-twain-brilliantly-explains-why-he-

turned-his-back-on-american-civil-war/

 https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain