Mark Twain Essay, Research Paper

Samual Langhorne Clemons, also known as ?Mark Twain,? was considered important in American Literature for several reasons. Living his adolescent life on the banks of the Mississippi, Twain accumulated numerous experiences that enabled him to write both humorous and amusing stories that were appealing to a wide audience. One of the reasons Mark Twain became popular and his works were so important was because he poked fun at the disturbing way life in his time really was. He did this using a method that was comical and easily understood by the common man. His writings were characterized by misspelled words, bad grammar, and weirdly constructed sentences. For a period of time other humorous writers borrowed this style of writing from Twain. This was a dramatic change in the 19th century.

Two of his most famous stories, ?The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calavaras County,? and ?Roughing It,? are wonderful examples of this pattern of writing, and greatly contribute to his reputation for being one of America?s greatest humorists. Humorous writing was important because settlers in early America lived hard lives filled with struggles. Twain provided easy to read fact and fiction in an exaggerated comedy, style.

?The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calavaras County,? was an idea that was originally from a fireside tale that Twain heard while vacationing with a friend in California. In this story he wrote of a gambling man never seemed to lose. The man loved to bet on things until the day when a stranger who cheated him out of a frog-jumping bet faced him. He adapted this tale with great skill. He wrote it in much the manner as the southwestern humor in the period of his youth. The humorist style was actually a weapon against the bitterness and the gloominess of other writers during this era. It not only gave him his first national fame, but also won approval of his work by several critics for the first time.

The book ?Roughing It?(1872) is a good example of another reason why Mark Twain was important in American literature. ?Roughing It,? recounted Twains trip to the far west and his experiences there. Because this book caught this section of the country at an exciting moment, it was valued for its history as well as its literature.

These stories were demonstrations of twains ability to look at the economic and spiritual issues in a humorous, light-hearted way.

In Twains writing ?A Boys Ambition? Twain recalls his ambition to become a steamboat men, which held great honor, and plenty of money. This writing reflects on the nature of America at the time and peoples dream to succeed. Many people were moving to America ?the promise land? in search of wealth, such as settlers to the west for gold. The little boys dream represented the dream of many Americans, to increase their quality of life. American were also undergoing social and spiritual change as well as political changes too. Twains writings poked fun at these changes using realism.

In conclusion the importance of Mark Twains writings were that people could understand them as well as relate to them. He used non-fictional journals to create entertaining fictional accounts of life. The use of humor in a non standard way of writing gave readers an escape from everyday life. This is why I think Mark Twain is a forefather in American literature.