Mark Twain: Novelist, Humorist, and Moralist
Mark Twain, born in 1835 as Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was an American humorist, journalist, lecturer, and novelist who is widely known for his travel narratives, especially The Innocents Abroad, Roughing It, and Life on the Mississippi. He is also famous for his adventure stories of boyhood – The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Twain’s tireless efforts to gain justice and humanization in the fields of race and class have long been recognized.
Twain was easily influenced by the romantic exploits and characters in the works of James Fenimore Cooper, Sir Walter Scott, and others. With his friends, he loved to play at being pirates or Robin Hood and other fabled adventurers. As he wrote, he blended or reenacted some of those adventures with his own.
The novels in our Dreaming Dreams trilogy are also travelogs. Many writers spin their best tales reminiscent of their own experiences and readings. This is the case in the books of our trilogy. Adam and Tariana might remind readers of Dorothy in the Wizard of OZ, Alice in Wonderland, Frodo or Bilbo Baggins, Harry Potter, or Luke Skywalker. Also, the angels Malaika and Adriella, and the fantasy character Abraham might stir memories of Gandalf or the Good Witch of the North. Bogart, who takes on the role of the redeemable villain, may make us think about The Joker, Draco Malfoy, or Estella Havisham who bullies Pip in Great Expectations.
Twain’s contributions to society are significant and far-reaching, and readers continue to study and analyze his work to this day. We too explore social issues of our day, many of which are the same ones Twain addressed back in the latter half of the 19th Century – racism, evolving landscapes, class barriers, access to education, and more. Twain was a moralist and an idealist. He explored and challenged parts of America’s identity – an inaccessible American Dream, the callous disregard for countryside and, most notably, the hypocrisy behind a country that preached liberty yet at that time still practiced slavery.
He employed humor and satire to address serious issues – his works helping to shape American identity and establish a tradition of social commentary in American literature. While he was a sickly child who was often coddled, particularly by his mother, he no doubt inherited his sense of humor from her. He developed early the tendency to test her indulgence through mischief, offering his good nature as bond for the domestic ‘crimes’ he was apt to commit as a young boy. When his Mom was in her 80s, Clemens asked her about his poor health in those early years:
“I suppose that during that whole time you were uneasy about me?”
“Yes, the whole time,” she answered.
“Afraid I wouldn’t live?” he asked.
“No,” she said, “afraid you would.”
A few of his quotes we especially admire for the wisdom therein and the ways they have influenced our own writings are:
“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.”
“I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”
“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.”
“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.”
“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”
“A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
Mark Twain’s contributions to society remain significant and far-reaching. A prolific writer, his works have had a profound impact on American literature and culture. His use of humor and satire to address serious issues helped to shape American identity and establish a tradition of social commentary in American literature.
Ernest Hemingway famously asserted, “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called ‘Huckleberry Finn. American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since.”
