BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY

MARK TWAIN

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910),[1] better known by his pen
name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. Among his
novels are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885),
 the latter often called "The Great American Novel".
[2]

Twain was raised in Hannibal, Missouri, which later provided the setting for Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry
Finn. He served an apprenticeship with a printer and then worked as a typesetter, contributing articles to
the newspaper of his older brother Orion Clemens. He later became a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi
River before heading west to join Orion in Nevada. He referred humorously to his lack of success at
mining, turning to journalism for the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise.[3] In 1865, his humorous story
"The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" was published, based on a story that he heard
at Angels Hotel in Angels Camp, California where he had spent some time as a miner. The short story
brought international attention and was even translated into classic Greek.[4] His wit and satire, in prose and
in speech, earned praise from critics and peers, and he was a friend to presidents, artists, industrialists, and
European royalty.

Twain earned a great deal of money from his writings and lectures, but he invested in ventures that lost
most of it—notably the Paige Compositor, a mechanical typesetter that failed because of its complexity
and imprecision. He filed for bankruptcy in the wake of these financial setbacks, but he eventually
overcame his financial troubles with the help of Henry Huttleston Rogers. He chose to pay all his pre-
bankruptcy creditors in full, even though he had no legal responsibility to do so.

Twain was born shortly after an appearance of Halley's Comet, and he predicted that he would "go out with
it" as well; he died the day after the comet returned. He was lauded as the "greatest American humorist of
his age",[5] and William Faulkner called him "the father of American literature".[6]
 SUMMARY

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

Tom Sawyer lives with his Aunt Polly and his half-brother Sid. He skips school to swim and
is made to whitewash the fence the next day as punishment. He cleverly persuades his friends
to trade him small treasures for the privilege of doing his work. He then trades the treasures
for Sunday School tickets which one normally receives for memorizing verses consistently,
redeeming them for a Bible, much to the surprise and bewilderment of the superintendent
who thought "it was simply preposterous that this boy had warehoused two thousand sheaves
of Scriptural wisdom on his premises—a dozen would strain his capacity, without a doubt."

Tom falls in love with Becky Thatcher, a new girl in town, and persuades her to get
"engaged" by kissing him. But their romance collapses when she learns Tom has been
"engaged" previously to Amy Lawrence. Shortly after Becky shuns him, he
accompanies Huckleberry Finn to the graveyard at night, where they witness a trio of body
snatchers, Dr. Robinson, Muff Potter, and Injun Joe, getting into a fight. While Potter is
knocked unconscious during the scuffle, Injun Joe stabs the doctor to death and later pins the
blame on Potter, who is arrested for the murder. Potter is then shunned by the whole town,
except Huck and Tom, who knew the real story. They decided "to keep mum" about this
incident because they are afraid of Injun Joe murdering them.

Tom and Huck run away to an island. While enjoying their new-found freedom, they become
aware that the community is sounding the river for their bodies. Tom sneaks back home one
night to observe the commotion. After a brief moment of remorse at his loved ones' suffering,
he is struck by the idea of appearing at his own funeral. Back in school, Tom gets himself
back in Becky's favor after he nobly accepts the blame for a book she has ripped. Soon, Muff
Potter's trial begins, in which Tom testifies against Injun Joe. Potter is acquitted, but Injun Joe
flees the courtroom through a window. Tom then fears for his life as Injun Joe is at large and
can easily find him.

Summer arrives, and Tom and Huck go hunting for buried treasure in a haunted house. After
venturing upstairs they hear a noise below. Peering through holes in the floor, they see Injun
Joe disguised as a deaf-mute Spaniard; Injun Joe and his companion plan to bury some stolen
treasure of their own. From their hiding spot, Tom and Huck wriggle with delight at the
prospect of digging it up. Huck begins to shadow Injun Joe nightly, watching for an
opportunity to nab the gold. In the meantime, Tom goes on a picnic to McDougal's Cave with
Becky and their classmates. In his overconfidence, Tom strays off the marked paths with
Becky and they get hopelessly lost. That night, Huck sees Injun Joe and his partner making
off with a box. He follows and overhears their plans to attack the Widow Douglas. By
running to fetch help, Huck prevents the crime and becomes an anonymous hero.

As Tom and Becky wander the extensive cave complex for the next few days, Becky gets
extremely dehydrated and starved, so Tom's search for a way out gets even more determined.
He accidentally encounters Injun Joe one day, but he is not seen by his nemesis. Eventually,
he finds a way out, and they are joyfully welcomed back by their community. As a preventive
measure, Judge Thatcher has McDougal's Cave sealed off, but this traps Injun Joe inside.
When Tom hears of the sealing several days later and directs a posse to the cave, they find
Injun Joe's corpse just inside the sealed entrance, starved to death.

A week later, having deduced from Injun Joe's presence at McDougal's Cave that the villain
must have hidden the stolen gold inside, Tom takes Huck to the cave and they find the box of
gold, the proceeds of which are invested for them. The Widow Douglas adopts Huck, and
when he attempts to escape civilized life, Tom tricks him into thinking that he can join Tom's
robber band if he returns to the widow. Reluctantly, he agrees and goes back to her.
HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL APPROACHES
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The story of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is based on the Mark Twain’s life, the story is
about a young boy growing up along the Mississippi River. It is set in the fictional town of St.
Petersburg, inspired by Hannibal, Missouri, where Twain lived, Almost of the story is
inspired hy his life, These imaginary river towns are complex places: sunlit and exuberant on
the one hand, but also vipers' nests of cruelty, poverty, drunkenness, loneliness and life-
crushing boredom—all parts of Sam Clemens's boyhood experience. The Adventures of Tom
Sawyer of course about the adventure and it is same with Mark Twain life, because he also
love to make an adventure. In the story of The Adventure of Tom Slawyer describe Tom
Sawyer is hard kid to pin down, and not just because he's always jumping fences, running off
to islands, and getting lost in caves. From a moral perspective, his actions are a bit confusing.
Sometimes he's admirable, but other times not so much. He's tricks his entire family – heck,
the entire town – into believing he's dead, and he takes great pride in doing so, but he can just
as easily demonstrate his remorse for the whole thing and kiss Aunt Polly on the cheek. He's
always playing hooky, but he's also saving lives – Muff Potter would be a dead man without
him. This is same with the Mark Twain character who love challenge and also move from
place to another place in order to reach his dream. The theme of the story also tell about the
youth, hope, dream and plan. It is obviously take from Mark Twain life who has a big dream
to become a pillot of riverboat , In 1857, at the age of twenty-two, Sam Clemens boarded a
steamboat and headed to New Orleans. He planned to take a trip to South America. Instead,
he met the steamboat pilot Horace Bixby, who agreed to let Clemens train with him as a
riverboat pilot for a fee of five hundred dollars. For the next two years, Clemens learned how
to pilot a riverboat on the Mississippi River. He gained his piloting license in April 1859 and
made a good living until the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861 when all commercial
traffic on the river stopped. Clemens then joined the Marion Rangers, a group of Confederate
volunteers that disbanded after only two weeks. This is prove about the strugle of Mark
Twain as a riverboat pillot, he loves his work and it also can find in the story of The
Adventures of Tom Sawyer who love what he do so he always try to solve his problem to get
what he want. .In the story Tom Sawyer skips school to swim and is made to whitewash the
fence the next day as punishment. He cleverly persuades his friends to trade him small
treasures for the privilege of doing his work , this same with the Mark Twain who often
became a recalcitran in his school. In other word Tom Sawyer is Mark Twain in a real life.