Mark Twain Research Paper

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Research Paper

Charles Dickens, George Orwell, William Shakespeare: all of these men are iconic authors who have made a monumental effect on modern literature. However, out of all of these playwrights and novelists, there is one man who stands out the most: the great Mark Twain. Mark Twain was a very successful and influential author during his time, creating many outstanding novels that are highly praised and still read to this day. He has been considered one of the greatest American writers of all time, and was nicknamed “the Father of American Literature.” Some examples of his collections of writing are Roughing It, The Gilded Age, and The Mysterious Stranger. One of his many superb pieces of work, and arguably one of his

Twain “was born in Florida, Missouri, in 1835, and moved during his childhood to Hannibal, Missouri, on the banks of the Mississippi River” (“Mark Twain.” Contemporary Authors Online). Twain spent most of his childhood living in Hannibal, observing its beauty as well its degeneracy. Tom Sawyer also lived in Missouri, living in the fictional town of St. Petersburg that was very similar to that of Hannibal, Twain’s hometown. One of these similarities includes its location, as they were both positioned “on the bank of the Mississippi River” ("Mark Twain." Encyclopedia of World Biography). The structures and locations of Saint Petersburg in the state of Mississippi were due in large part to Twain having lived in Hannibal for an exceptionally long time and having a great knowledge for this area of Missouri and of the Mississippi River. Twain’s childhood and adolescent years had a large influence on the creation of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, as aspects of Twain’s old home in Hannibal helped him create the fictional town of Tom Sawyer, the main character and central focus of the