English Literature

There have been plenty of literary figures in history that have made a great impact on the literary scene and contributed to the expansion and development of literature. Since literature is such a wide and diverse subject, it is but natural that literary figures would also come from different parts of the globe and would write on such diverse subjects that concerns humanitylife, death, love, societal problems and issues. In each aspect of literature, in each genre and even literary period, there would be men and women who stood out. These people would be either catalysts of the said genre or pioneered the literary movements of a specific historical period. Still, among these famous and renowned men and women, there would still be some who stood outone such person who is not known is Samuel L. Clemens but who is famously known as Mark Twain.
Mark Twain is known throughout the world as being a great literary canon of the American literature. He is even branded as being the father and pioneer of the said literature that his works, most notably, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn known not just as fine examples of the American literature, the American novel, the American life of late 1800s but also as those which propelled literary themes that were considered as taboo or controversial. Themes such as racism, slavery and liberation of the youth were prevalent in his works and which awakened the literary souls of soon-to-be famous writers that in their own rights, also greatly contributed to the foundation and expansion of American literature. These things are the reasons why Mark Twain is famous, why he is the father of American literature (as dubbed by the famous William Faulkner) and why centuries after his death and the publication of his works, he is still discussed about, studied and criticized. As what this essay will explicate and focus on, the great Mark Twain or Samuel L. Clemens did not just wrote humorous novels that embodied the late1800s American life and was later on concluded as American literaturewhat he did altogether was create American literature itself.
   
Mark Twain was originally borne as Samuel Langhorne Clemens from a quite well-off family since his father, John M0rUh0ll Clemens was a lawyer and even his grandparents were slave-owning farmers in Virginia (Powers, 2-7). This can explain why Clemens wrote about slavery in his novels since he had the opportunity to experience them first hand with the interactions that his family had with their slaves. The fact that Clemens was educated and even his father belonging from the upper-class, made him all the more fascinating and believable as a writer and critique of slavery. Since he was well-off, he saw slavery and yet still condemned it instead of supporting it and advocating it made his criticism on why slavery and racism exist in the first place made the themes of his novels all the more tenable.

However, more than this family background that he had with slaves and advantageous opportunities, it was the life that he had in Hannibal, Missouri that proved to be fateful and most influential in the life of the young Clemens. When the Clemens family moved to Hannibal in 1839, Samuel Clemens became the precocious and gregarious young boy that had much freedom, imagination and time on his hands. This freedom, imagination and availability allowed him to explore the world and this opened the doors to his creative and observant nature that would eventually lead to the formation of his many literary works and most especially, on his novels. Later, it was to be seen that even the c0Uu0l events he had in his everyday life were embedded in his psyche and that his distinctive way of proceUUing experience w0U forming, and he remembered his UurpriUe when his Upont0neouU opinionU and phr0UingU first struck others 0U humorous. But just because Samuel Clemens was smart and imaginative does not mean that he had the foundation of a writer and he would be a famous and great one at that. What sealed his fate as a writer is the circumstance that his brother owned a newspaper and he managed to work for him as an editorial assistant and typesetter. U hiU self-confidence roUe, he placed 0 humorous yarn in 0 Boston periodical, 0lre0dy demonUtr0ting the energetic ambition that drove hiU career despite the poke of l0zineUU. Thus, hiU early writing Uhowed inUtinctive exuber0nce, eg0lit0ri0niUm, irreverence, and boldneUU.
   
As Samuel Clemens experienced one hardship after the other, like the death of family members or a particularly harsh break up, only one thing remained constant in his life and that is writing. From his stints in mining to local stocks and investments, it was his writing which put the food on the table as he continued to writer travel stories and editorials, continued to do typesetting and eventually, some news reporting. His writing for other people and as a means to survive made him more exposed and open to the world that ever before. Because of his travelogues, editorials and reports, Samuel Clemens saw everything from the upper-class filthy rich down to the physically-filthy poor. Since Clemens saw so many things, experienced great things and wrote and wrote about it, Mark Twain was born. Ironically, even if Clemens had been writing for a long time already, at the age of 31, he was still looking for what he wanted to do in life when other people who were the same age as his would have probably already decided on what to do with their livesClemens was still searching Diffidently and erratically, already past the age when others have chosen their vocation, he was beginning to choose his (Kaplan, 13). The ironic thing is, he did not know that it was writing that he was looking for and all this time, he had already found it.

Mark Twain was known to be the first truly popular American author because of the publication of his famous literary works. But before he even wrote the novels that propelled him into literary stardom, he was already writing for other people in the form of travelogues. Perhaps, because of this extensive travels, he managed to experience life on different levels, see many things that other people could only dream about and even interacted with people that later on inspired him to write his novels. This is also the one aspect which made Mark Twain famous, aside from the humor that clicked with everyone, he had a vivid imagination that narrated not only the events of American life but he also relied on vibrant local color. The local color not only sealed Mark Twains expertise in writing, it also earned the disapproval of people that considered such portrayal blasphemous. Since Mark Twain painted the local life and scenery of Mississippi, it is not surprising that he also wrote about the way society led their life and this was not a pretty picture as he criticized societal norms, prejudices and practices. Thus, his novels also wore the badge of literary courage as he portrayed how society performed to the tune of their own selfish bigotry.

The other thing which made Mark Twain famous and forever made his name known as the father of American Literature is not only for the reason that he portrayed American life through the depiction of local color but he also used the common American language which was prevalent during that time. The early 1800s were known as the time when America was still struggling to free itself from the clutches of Britain. It was during this time that writing for the glory of a free and independent America became prevalent and when Mark Twain came out with his travelogues that featured the countryside of America, he was applauded for his creativity and wit. However, when he came out with his novels that featured the everyday language that was used in everyday America, they were probably not shocked with the ideathey welcomed the novel idea warmly. The slang and language of his era embodied so many aspects and characteristics of that time the nature of the people and their status, what they hold precious and what they consider as a waste of time, what they love, like and hate. Thus, because Mark Twain used the language to depict the personality of his characters, American linguistics also derived a great deal from studying his novels since the famous American figure portrayed what he observed from that era. The slang and language of the 1800s were portrayed by Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn not just as fictional characters but as realistic speakers of the language. Because of this, he not only let the modern world see what 1800s American life was like, he also let the modern world hear what it was like to live during that era. It can even be concluded, to some great extent, that he pioneered the writing of using slang as a language in literature since the literary figures before him were known to exhibit the more British way of writing that used complicated and academic words that the common masses would have a challenging time of reading, understanding and interpreting.
   
Because of all the aforementioned characteristics of Mark Twain, his works became critically acclaimed not just because of the themes and subject matter that they exhibited but because it exhibited the ideals of a true American. When Mark Twain wrote and published his novels, not only was he earning ire from society, he was also earning great respect from other literary figures and critics. Thus, it is no wonder that he gave birth (or inspired) other literary figures such as William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Ralph Ellison, Arthur Miller and Toni Morrison that in one form or another quoted him or his works. There were probably many other authors or even societal figures like political leaders, religious heads and artists that were also inspired by this one great literary figure. He was known to be the father of American literature since he initiated the giving of birth to American literaturehe planted the literary seed that other literary figures sowed and harvested and which the whole world would come to know as American literature. The kind of literature that was courageous, bold, individualistic and independent which are all traits of America and its people.

The fact that people still study him today even if a long time has passed makes it all the more convincing that he is an exalted figure in American literature. In some ways, people study him and his works because there is still a huge part in the personality of Mark Twain which is unknown to many, common and critics alike. Because Mark Twain wrote so many works that were under pseudonyms, it cannot be determined on which is his and which is another writer s masterpiece. Thus, the witty and humorous writer still manages to keep the modern world on its toes as his personal life eludes us while it is so entirely exposed. . M0rk Tw0in still continues to live in 0 uniquely double w0y wherein he rem0inU popul0r 0U 0n 0uthor 0nd 0 cultur0l icon while he f0Ucin0teU 0 circle of Uchol0rU 0nd criticU who delves into hiU workU, mind, perUon0lity, 0nd c0reer and finding nothing at all that would make them learn more about the writer.

Mark Twain can be regarded as having a double life which is open to the public and yet, it is so secretive to the point that when information is delved into, there is absolutely nothing we know about Mark Twain like what were the real influences that made him write and made him write about the things he wrote about. Although, Bray (1974), Cardwell (1975) and Geoffrey (2001) all pointed out that Mark Twain was very much influenced by