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Mark Twain
(1835 – 1910)
“All modern American literature comes from one
book by Mark Twain called “Huckleberry Finn”.”
Ernest Hemingway
Samuel Langhorne Clemens known to the world as Mark Twain, was the son of a lawyer in the State of Missouri. When the boy was 5 years old, he was sent to school. As a boy he did not like school, but he had many friends and was their leader. In summer he spent much time on the Missouri River.
As Mark Twain said later, many events in “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” really took place and the characters were from real life. Tom Sawyer was very often a portrait of the writer; Huckleberry Finn was his friend, Tom Blankenship; Aunt Polly was his mother; Tom’s brother Sid was like his own brother Henry. When Samuel was eleven, his father died living nothing to his family. Samuel had to leave his school and look for work. His elder brother was working as a printer and he helped the boy to learn printing. For some years Samuel worked as a printer for the town newspaper and later for his brother, who at the time started a small newspaper. The two young men published it themselves. Samuel wrote short humorous stories and printed them. In 1853 he decided to leave home. He went first to St. Louis. Then to New York and to Philadelphia where he worked as a printer. At twenty he found a job on a boat travelling up and down the Mississippi. On that boat he learned the work of a pilot. (лоцман). From this he got his pen-name “Mark Twain”. The pilot had to know the river very well when he took a ship along it. The sailors watched the marks and shouted to the pilot “mark three”, “mark twain”, which means “mark two”. Later the young man worked with the gold-miners (золотоискатели) in California. Here he began to write short stories and humorous sketches about camp life. He sent them to newspaper under the name of “Mark Twain”. His publishers liked his stories and he was invited to work as a journalist. In 1870 he married and a new and happy life began for him. He had one son and three daughters whom he loved very much. As a journalist Mark Twain travelled much, he saw the corruption of the American press and of the American government which he later attacked in many of his works (“Running for Governor”, “Te Gilded Age”1873).
In different stories Mark Twain showed race discrimination and false democracy (“Goldmith’s Friend Abroad Again”).
In 1876 the writer published “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and in 1884 “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” – the novels that are now known to the children and grown–ups all over the world. The writer shows boys and girls in the novels with such sympathy and understanding that readers always see themselves in these characters. Mark Twain protested there against slavery and one oh the main characters in the novel “Huckleberry Finn” is a Negro, Jim, who is honest, brave and kind.
The plot of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is just as enthralling today as it was when it was published in 1876. The story takes place in the small village of St. Petersburg, Missouri, which is located on the banks of the Mississippi River. The time period is the mid-1800's and is therefore a possible reflection of Mark Twain's opinion on the politics and racial prejudice of the time. Tom Sawyer and his brother, Sid, are orphans and live with their Aunt Polly. Tom is very mischievous and at the beginning of the novel he is hiding from Aunt Polly in the pantry, where
he steals some jam. When she catches him he runs away and plays hookey from school by going swimming.
Tom's punishment is to whitewash the entire fence. Although he doesn't want to do this chore, he sets to it and when his friends come along he convinces them that it is so much fun that they eagerly pay him to let them do some of the work. When Aunt Polly lets him go, Tom and his friend Joe go off playing the games that they think up through their imaginations. On the way home, Tom sees a new girl, Becky Thatcher, and instantly falls in love.
At Sunday school, Tom trades tickets with his friends so that he has enough tickets to earn him a free Bible. The tickets to earn this prize are earned through memorizing two thousand verses of the Bible. Tom proudly claims the new Bible in front of everyone, including the family of the new girl, Becky, whose father is a judge. However, when tom is asked to name the twelve disciples he cannot do so. He entertains himself in church by playing with a pinch bug, but when the bug bites a dog, there is a big disruption in the service.
Tom meets up with Huckleberry Finn on his way to school the next morning. Hick is a boy that does not attend school, and drinks and swears. He does not have any direction from his father, who is the down drunk and basically allow Huck to do whatever he wants. Tom is late for school because of this meeting and as punishment, the schoolmaster makes him sit next to Becky, which is not really a punishment for him at all. At lunchtime, Tom asks her to marry him and although she does give him a kiss, but refuses his proposal when he admits he was engaged to someone else. After school Tom and Joe skip off to play Robin Hood in the woods.
Tom sneaks out that night to meet Huck in the graveyard. They hide when they hear people coming but are able to see that it is Dr, Robinson, Muff Potter and Injun Joe, who are stealing bodies. In the courseof an argument, Muff Potter gets knocked out and Injun Joe kills the doctor. Tom and Huck run away and vow never to tell what they saw. When Muff comes to, Injun Joe accuses him of murdering the doctor. Tom, however, starts to have nightmares about that night and when Becky falls ill, he becomes very depressed. When he goes to visit her, she rejects him once again.
Tom decides that he will run away and convinces Joe and Huck to come with him. They decide to become pirates, so they steal a boat and sail to Jackson's Island. They play on the island even though they know that the people of the village are searching for them, thinking they have fallen into the river and drowned. Hick and Joe get homesick, but Tom convinces them to stay on the island. That night he sneaks back into town with the intention of leaving a note for Aunt Polly telling her he is safe. He overhears Aunt Polly and Mary making plans for the funeral of the three boys. He comes up with another plan, which the boys go along with when he returns to the island. On the day of the funeral, they return to the village and walk into the church, much to the surprise of the mourners.
Tom returns to school and even though he and Becky are still not getting along, he takes the blame for ripping a page out of the teacher's book ad accepts the punishment. Becky goes away for the summer, Tom comes down with the measles and the whole village goes through a religious revival. When Muff Potter goes on trial for the murder of Dr. Robinson, Tom is wracked with guilt over what he knows about the event. He decides to testify and although Muff is freed, Injun Joe escapes.
The boys decide they will hunt for buried treasure, but instead they find Injun Joe, who has indeed found a large buried treasure. Just before school reopens, all the children go on an expedition to McDougall's Cave, where Tom and Becky get lost. At the same time, Huck follows Injun Joe to Widow Douglas's house and foils the plan to harm the woman when he runs for help.
Tom and Becky do find Injun Joe in the cave and after wandering around for several days, they start to give up hope of ever being found. Tom does find a way out and the Judge orders the cave sealed shut before tom has a chance to tell them that Injun Joe is hiding in the cave. It was too late and Injun Joe had starved to death inside. He also realizes that the treasure is hidden in the cave. He and Huck go back and find the treasure.
Mr. Jones tells the Widow Douglas how Huck saved her life and she offers him a place in her home, Huck, however, cannot change his ways and runs away. Tom convinces him to return and to try to become a respectable member of society.