Mark Twain 3
I chose to do Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) because I believe Twain is the greatest American author of all time.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens may have been one of the greatest American authors of all time. Samuel, Son of John and James Clemens, was born on November 30, 1835 in the town of Florida, Missouri. Samuel was born two months premature and it seemed unlikely that Samuel would survive the harsh winter but indeed he did. Death would take other children in the family instead: Margaret in 1836, Benjamin in 1842, and Henry in 1858(Miller, 2&3).
According to Miller, Samuel remembered his father as:
"A proud, a silent austere man who considered himself to be a member of the ...
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8 years later, Samuel’s father died of pneumonia leaving behind a family of five. Samuel was 11 and was devastated.(Miller, 4&5)
Samuel Clemens was a difficult child. He almost drowned on nine separate occasions. Within a year of his fathers death, Samuel was apprenticed to a local printer, Joseph Ament. He worked for nearly two years for Ament, leaving him in October, 1850 in order to join the Hannibal Western Union, a small weekly newspaper that had been bought by his brother Orion Clemens. Orion promised Samuel good wages but was seldom able to pay it(Miller, 5).
By 1853, Samuel was ready to try to make his own way. In May of that year, at the age of 17, he left Hannibal for St. Louis, New York, and Philadelphia. For the next two years, he supported himself--often only just barely-- as a typesetter for a variety of newspapers, while enjoying what would prove to be the first of many travels. By the spring of 1855, he was once again working for Orion, ...
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A few days later, the Pennsylvania exploded just south of Memphis and Henry was blown clear of the boat without being harmed but he swam back to the boat to save the other passengers and his lungs were penetrated by hot steam. Henry was then brought to a hospital where Samuel watched him die. Samuel blamed himself for Henry’s death.(Sanborn, 126-127)
In 1860, he moved to Nevada, convinced that he would make his fortune by mining silver and gold. He also began to contribute occasional pieces to the territory’s leading newspaper.(Miller 8) After realizing he had failed as a prospector, he had accepted a job from the Enterprise to join its staff as a full-time reporter ...
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Mark Twain 3. (2006, August 31). Retrieved November 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Mark-Twain-3/51633
"Mark Twain 3." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 31 Aug. 2006. Web. 23 Nov. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Mark-Twain-3/51633>
"Mark Twain 3." Essayworld.com. August 31, 2006. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Mark-Twain-3/51633.
"Mark Twain 3." Essayworld.com. August 31, 2006. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Mark-Twain-3/51633.
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