You dont know about me, without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but that aint no matter. that book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There were things which he streched, but mainly he told the truth. That ain nothing. I never seen anybody but lied, one time or another, without it was Aunt Polly, or the widow, or maybr Mary. Aunt Polly-Toms Aunt Polly, she is-and Mary, and the Widow Douglas, is all told bout in that book-which is mostly a true book; with some, as I said before. (Twain 1)
Any way I am here to tell you somethings bout this man that has write all these things bout our adventures. So listen an maybe you might even learn a little something bout this man. Now let me think…. oh ya, now I recall it. I reckon it was a warm November jus like any other, the 30th to be exact. But that aint how Sams Pa spoke of it. He had to go makin big, fancy speeches and things of that sort at the party. But after all that mublin we had a purdy good time. As a matter of fact as I recall that day it was almost purfect. If it warnt for me drunk Pa gettin arrested by the Sheriff that morn, it woudda been real purfect.
Course I reckon a boys gota have a good time at his best friends bertday party. I was at Sams house. Course I warnt de only one dare. His Pa, Judge Clemens and Ma, Miss Jane Lampton, till she married of course, was dare and I reckon his whole tire family must da been at dat house, cant barely remember it was only his fourth birthday back in 1839 (Howard 1). Ya, me and Sam been friends ever since he moved here, best friends too, he was born an lived in Florida, Missouri prior to now. He moved here at the start of this year. See lots of people dont give me much thought cause me bein uneducated and havin a Pa like I do an all.
That all changed though, Sam was the type dat even liked the niggers, so I be surprised if he thought of me differently than any other (Paine 4). Sams family hadnt got that much money either but his Pa sure was one of them educated types. He was a lawyer and a judge and people looked up to him for jus dat (Howard 5). Actually, speakin of money I had some myself, bout 6,000 dollars. Ya, I was rich ever since Tom and I had gotten them bandits. Tell ya the truth, money didnt really mean much to me anyways cause I liked livin simple an all. But some people spend all their time day dreamin bout the stuff.
Sams Pa and Sam certainly had somethin in common then cause Judge Clemens is always thinkin of all these ways to be prosper. And Sam jus day dream bout what ever he could think of (Howard 11). Guess I would do the same if I was forced to sit in a school house some days myself. Now your probably thinkin why I said most in sted of all weekdays, well Sam didnt care for his schoolin much and often played hooky (Paine 14). Ya see, cause of Sams funny personality he was often switched. Ole Mrs. Elizabeth Horr could never forget that mams name. Ya see dat was Sams teacher, he didnt think of her as that though.
In Sams mind Mrs. Elizabeth was a jail keeper (Eaton 27). So we use ta go in sit at the port. Hannibal, Mississippi was where we lived, an it was a big river town (Encarta 1994). Sam loved them steam boats, he could sit dare an look it em all day, and he usually did. Course me bein his best of friends was always there wit em, didnt care for em much myself so Sam would always make up stories, and adventures to says we was doin, when all we was really doin was lookin at boats, and missin school of course. Sam had many of brothers and sisters. I reckon he was never the lonely type cause he had many of siblins.
There was Pamela, who was eight years older than ourselves. She was well schooled and all, I reckon she even liked it! (Howard 5). Orion was eight years older too. Then there was Benjamin, never got to know him well cause he died at only ten and there was the little brother, Henry (Paine 16). Anyways, our schoolin continued, dull as ever. Well before we known it we had ourselves out that school. So Sam was not really sure bout what he wanted to do with emself, so to make some money he followed his brother, Orion (Encarta). Ya see Orion had jus bought himself a local printin press.
The only article prior to the Hannible Press was the Courier so now Hannible had itself two papers (Howard 115). Now durin this time Sam had been workin for a Mr. Ament, another local printer, for round two years. So Sam worked under his older brother bein the printer for the paper (115). Well it was most unfortunate that they seems to be carryin some bad luck on their shoulders from the beginnin. The press caught on fire, it was only a small one but them fire fighters didnt help the problem much when they doused the water all over the equipment.
Anyways that there was the least of their problems. Back around that time an epidemic struck the Mississippi. Cholera struck hard and devastated many of people. Now cause people couldnt work they had to make trades for goods, and barterin didt do much good for Sam and Orion (117). But they were no quitters, they stuck to it and Sam started gettin bored of writein the same ole things so he turned a little creative. Sam bein born funny, started slippin jokes in the paper and made up names to call himself (119). Well Orion wanted a proper, ole fashioned kinda paper.
This caused for some quarrelin in between the two and I reckon Sam couldn stand for it no longer, so he grab himself his belongings and left for St. Louis to visit his sister Elizabeth and find himself a job. He didt plan on stayin there for long though. Sam only wanted to make enough money to go to New York (Paine 52). Well Sams plans did not exactly go as he reckoned they would. He had many printin jobs cross the whole country. Durin this time Sam met a fella named Burruogh. He was in to literature and was a well read man. He had quite the influence on Sam and turned him on to readin.
Eventually, Sam returned back in St. Louis and worked for the Evening News. Well by this time it was spring and Orion got himself a wife and moved to Iowa. Sam came to visit his brother in Iowa and found Henry, his younger brother, now 17, there too. Well life was like ole times for a while. The three brothers lived together in Orions house. This is the period of time when Sam was turned on to music. It happened after a music teacher, who lived on the floor below, was flat out sick and tired of bein the focus of Sams noise and pranks that they would play on him.
He would come upstairs to reprimand them. Sam would usually reply with one of his regular wise cracks but one day Sam tried somin a bit out the ordinary. In an attempt to be funny he was overly polite to the teacher. To his surprise, the man was nice back and before you could blink your own eye Sam was a musician (60). He was bout 20 years of age now and was quite the ladies man. But dont think for a second that Sam was close to a gentleman. The ladies along with everybody else liked Sam for his outgoin personality.
Although he was a partier durin the suns hours at night you could predict that the only place he would be found was in his bed, propped up by a pillow, smokin his pipe and readin a book (61). Life was good for the boys and not a day passed without a laugh. Unfortunately good things can only last so long. Orions paper was not makin him enough to cover his expenses. After much strugglin he wrote home in distraught to his mama, who was now livin with Pamela. The note told of an adventure that Orion would go on in the Amazon (62). His interest was sparked after readin a book by Lynch and Henderson.
The book told of the riches that could be found there in the mines of the rain forest. Now if you havent gotten the idea that Sam was the adventurous type, you havent been listenin proper, cause thats what he lived for! If you think that Sam would miss a chance to not only ride on a steam boat to South America but also go on an adventure in the Amazon you are beyond fixin (64). Anyway it took him round a year to raise enough money to go to the Amazon but he finally had it and set forth on the Paul Jones down the Mississippi to New Orleans.
Sam reckoned the voyage would take bout a week of time but his foreseein was more than just a bit off (70). Horace Bixby was captn of the boat. I reckon his day started off jus as any other, that is until he met Sam of course. It all happened when Horace spotted that a man, now 21 years of age, had been starin at him for hours. When Horaces shift was over he left the pilot house. As soon as he opened that door Sam was in his face askin questions bout his job and how liked it. Their conversations and friendliness kept for the rest of the trip. But at the end Sam left it jus like all the other passengers.
Sam noticed an ole dock hand leanin up against a pole. Sam was down right puzzled when the man laughed at Sams question. He replied There have never been no steamers sailin to the Amazon round here! It was then and there when Sam realized that the Mississippi was his river and that pilotin it had been his biggest dream. So Sam went searchin for Bixby and found em too. He asked him if he could be a cub on the boat and Bixby had no problem with it cause Sam had been so friendly and all. So Sam worked the river for four years and ventually became himself a captn (Howard 122). Word got around that Sam was one of the best captns on that river.
Mr. Bixby was proud and Sam loved that river more than life itself and planed to spend it on the Mississippi (133). Im sure he woulda done it till he was able to but somethin came up. One night there was a horrible accident. There was a ship whos had them selves a boiler explosion. Henry was on that boat and went to swim to a nearby shore. But Henry heard screamin and went back to save people. He never made it and drowned. This was not the only thing that made Sam depressed these days (Paine 91). Unfortunately when Sam turned 26 years of age boats were halted goin up and down the river cause of the war.
Ya see the Yankees has been on us bout how slaves are immoral and all, and them plantation owners wouldn got no notes if it warnt for their niggers (133). So as anyone coulda guessed the country broke out into an all out brawl over the matter. Course this meant dat any man worthy of any respect at all was goin to fight for em selves and their good ole south, so for a short period of time he did but Sam thought that slavery was wrong. He felt for it so strong that he woulda joined emself en the Yanks side but he would be fightin his friends and neighbors (Howard 134).
By this time Orions printin business had failed. But Orions second cousin was a rich boy. He was able to fix up Orion with a proper job. Nevada was a new territory and it needed itself a Territorial Secretary. This job was much like bein a governor and was considered a real honor. There was one problem left to resolve. It would take Orion all of one-hundred and fifty dollars. Well that was no problem that Sam couldnt solve cause he had himself three-hundred dollars right in his own pocket. Now if I am doin my math proper this would mean that two people would have themselves a ticket to Nevada.
Well I must to done it right cause they did jus that. Sams plan to make money would be to mine silver (135). Well Sams luck at minin was not very prosper. He barely made enough to survive the winter. But although times were tough he was always able to make his colleagues and himself laugh durin the worst of times. Durin this period Sam would write humorous letters to Orion. Well Orion knew of his lil brothers problems. In an attempt to help him he showed Sams letters to the local paper. The owner of the Territorial Enterprise found exactly what he wanted (137). It was August when Sam started writin for the paper.
But prior to writin a stitch Sam wanted to create a name for himself that would stick. He thought long and hard, thinkin how great life used to be on the Mississippi. Suddenly his eyes took on a glare and his face was perplexed. He had a big smile on his face and through his smilin mouth came the words Mark Twain. It was a river term that told the captn how deep the water was (15). Well Sam though he had good ideas bout writein so he set off to be a free lance writer. To make money in between he mined for gold. One day while sittin on a rock next to the mountain side he heard some men talkin of frog races.
This took Sams mind to the past, his uncle use to have a pet frog. So he started writein what came to mind and before he coulda known it himself he had a completed story in front of his eyes (142). Sam sent his story to a local newspaper. Well The Bullfrog Of Calaveras County was the talk of the town! Before he known it himself Sam stories were bein published all over the country (143). I reckon it was late May of 1864 when Sam left for the West coast. Twains reason for leavin Nevada for California was because of a duel. The duel was really somewhat of a publicity stunt.
It was arranged in between Sam and a rival paper to the Call, the paper that Sam was writein for (Paine 137). When Sam got there he found the city filled wit beautiful flowers and rollin green hills. Sam found the location perfect for his writein. He was relaxed here and could concentrate (Eaton 143). Sams job was to venture out into the citys night life. It was filled with shows and entertainment! Sams job was to report and critique the shows he attended, he loved it at first but soon got sick of all the lights and glamour (145). But Sam kept at it. He had one reason for wakin up every day.
You see Sam joined a literary group, it was his moment of sunshine durin an otherwise dismal day (146). But Sam could barely take the his monotonous job for another day, he was bout to quit when BOOM. Now I have never been to the West myself but Sam told me out there they have these happenins they call earthquakes. It must be strange to be in one. Everything shakes and whole buildins can fall down! Anyways for Sam this earthquake brought bout much to write about. For many days he made reports bout what happened to people and their homes and things of the sort.
But eventually California got themselves some carpenters to fix everythin and that was the end of that topic (146). So I reckon you believe how happy Sam was when he got word from Joe Goodman to rejoin the Enterprise. Sam would act as their Western reporter and would free to write bout what ever he chose (147). Well every thing was goin fine until Sams friend and roommate Steve Gillis almost killed a barkeeper! He was put in jail for attempted murder. So bein the kind that Sam was, he posted his friends bail. Well the word got out that this barkeeper was friends with the Sheriff.
This meant that Steve had no chance of gettin a fair trial. So like any man would, Steve fled to Virginia. Well when he didnt show up in court they went after Sams bail money. But no worry, cause Sam got word of it before they found him. Steves brother Jim came to town and told Sam that he could stay with him in his cabin in the Tuollumne hills (148). Jim was what was called a pocket miner. These people were miners that would look for gold in abandoned mines. So Sam learned the trade of pocket minin. They roamed area which is now Yosemite park scoutin for gold. Sam did this for weeks makin enough to survive (149).
Eventually Sams short attention span caught up with him. Like every thing else Sam got sick of minin and bein so far away from, well, everything! So he set down his pails and headed back to San Fransico (150). Upon his return Sam was contracted by the Sacremento Union to write some stories bout the Hawaiian group. Well within moments Sam had himself on a boat to the islands. He would often refer to his time on the islands as one of the best in his whole, ttire life, a golden memory as he put so himself . Sam was in his 30s, his prime and was filled with adventure and energy.
He traveled all over the island and sent back detailed reports (Paine 148). California and Sam himself were both amazed with the writein that Mark Twain was creatin. Sam wanted to refine his skills and better himself. His first step toward his goal was to return to California (150). Sam begun to give lectures, at the start of it they were refined to San Fransisco and then to the state. The results were amazing. I dont think I have ever seen so many of people in one room before! Well cause of these results Sam ventured out to many big cities of the country.
Now if you were to pick one place where the most people were would come to see Sams lectures were would you go? New York, New York of course (160). The lectures that Sam gave in New York were probably what kicked off his pathway to national fame (162). Durin his travels Sam met a man named Charles Langdon. They became good friends. Sam spent Christmas in New York with Charles. It is here where he met Olivia Langdon (Eaton 178). It was love at first sight, I must say she was a mighty fine woman, she was! The two stared at each other through out dinner at the Langdons house.
Olivia found Sam the most interestin person she had ever met (179). They saw each other again on New Years Day and became even more friendly with each other, even more than prior (182). Duty called Sam to Washington, where he would give two speeches. At this point Sams life took a turn. He realized that he was not meant to be a reporter but an author (183). He started writein quickly, his goal was to finish a manuscript as soon as possible (184). The result was The Innocent Abroad Sams first novel. The story told of Sams trip on the Quaker , a large sailboat, with six other men.
He was on the ship to tour Europe and lecture in the some of the big cities (163 Paine). In the meantime Sam was invited to spend two days with the Langdon family. Everyone was happy to see him. For two days he tried to lure Olivia towards engagin her in some personal conversation (186 Eaton). Within a short period of time Sam had convinced Olivia into marryin him (187). February 2, 1870 was the day that Sam finally got married, well I can say it was bout time! He did not want to separate the Langdon family so Sam decided to move nearby to Olivias home town, Elmira, so Sam and his new wife moved to Buffalo, New York (190).
Almost as soon as the couple moved in they experienced themselves some problems. Olivias father passed away leavin her grief stricken. Olivia got herself into a state of depression, makin her weak and confined her to her bed. In November the couple had a premature baby boy named Langdon. But instead of bringin the family joy it worsened them. Because the baby was born early it was weak and sickly, not to good. How could a man possibly concentrate in such a mess? Well he simply couldnt! Sam noticed that ever since they moved to Buffalo his wife and himself were not the happy people they used to be (192).
So when Sam received the invitation to spend the summer at Quarry Farm from Mrs. Crane there was no doubt in his mind to accept. Mrs. Crane was the sister of Olivias mama. She lived on a farm that had huge views of rollin green hills which helped to inspire Sam an his writein (186 Paine). By the end of the summer, Sam had finished his book, Roughing It. It was bout his adventures out in the western territory. At the summers end the family chose on movin to Hartford, Connecticut, a thrivin city that was filled with literary publishers and clubs of that sort (Paine 189). 872 was a year of change for Sam and his family.
In March his second child was born Susy Clemens. But three months later Langdon died of a heavy cold (198). Later that year Sams adventures spanned to England, his mission was to collect information bout their customs for a new book that he planned to start. He returned in November that same year. His plans changed, Sam abandoned his idea and started a new fiction book called The Gilded Age. It was well known and loved by many people, jus like all of his other writeins of course. Lovin England so much, Sam returned there with his family.
He stayed himself there for a complete two years. Durin this time he had met with many famous authors and lectured all over England (199). On his arrival home Sam started writein Tom Sawyer. It was bout his child hood :growin up on the Mississippi. It was to be one of his most famous books (200). I guess he must av been feelin mighty high spirited cause Sam continued on writein. He wrote Sketches New and Old which would have been a tremendous seller if it were by any other author, but for Sam it was a relatively small potatoes (209). Sams next big accomplishment was The Prince and the Pauper , his first play.
The story was bout Henry VIII. Sam got the idea after readin The Prince and the Page, a well known story (219). By now Sam had himself three children Susy, Clara and Jean (Howard 157). It was at this time when Sam decided to write The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn (Eaton 217). Now Sam wrote many a books but this was by far the most excellent thing that was ever written, and I cant help likin the name of it! It sold like a madman, bringin Sam tons of letters and comments bout his novel. After writein many famous books Sam did somethin he had been longin for. Sam returned to the Mississippi.
There he met up with some ole friends and saw ole sites. For a moment Sam was livin his child hood. Everybody he knew had read all of his books and the all the people decorated their town for Sams return. As Sam stepped off the boat he said Has Missouri changed the date of the 4th of July? (Howard 166). The next day Sam was invited to attend the christenin of a new steam boat. The champagne bottle cracked and the wooden planks that held it in place slipped off the ship revealin the name MARK TWAIN (168). Years later Sam laid in his bed. He was now an old man with only Clara left. His whole family had died.
He sat in bed rememberin how he had seen Halleys comet when he was little. Now 77 years later Sam saw the comet again on the night of April 21, 1910. This was one of the lasts things he saw. Cause that night Sam passed into a long sleep that still has yet to end (173). I went on bein a sheriff in Montana. But this story aint bout myself, its bout my friend Sam. -Tom Blankenship a. k. a. : Huckleberry Finn Note: This paper was written in a dialect used by Huck. There are many spelling and grammatical errors but all are intessional (just kidding, bout –). They are there to represent the dialogue of Huck.
I have edited it many times to be sure ALL the errors now in the paper are intentional! I have sat through my spell check alerting me that almost every word was spelled wrong just to eliminate unintentional errors. The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn II In the novel The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn the setting has a large influence on Hucks character. The period of time that Huck lived in was a distinct era. The country was changing rapidly. During this period steam engines enabled rivers to be used as mass transportation, an idea that had never been explored until now.
Waterways were the first way in which large amounts of goods could be transported efficiently. This drastically changed much of the nations economy. Huge factories were built in the north and southern plantations tripled their production by using machines. There were many traits of this era that can be seen by looking at the components of Hucks character, his language, actions and thoughts. Some of these traits are sutle and can be easily missed but others are very obvious and powerful. This period of change was the setting of Hucks childhood. One trait that is indicative of the era is the social class of Huck and Hucks language.
It is greatly affected by his social class and setting. The broken English is a sign of Hucks low social class. In addition it also shows that he is from a southern river town. This can be seen from his expressions and accent. The language of the novel also assists the reader to get into the laid back, southern mood of the book. By doing so the story is brought to life. It seems as if someone were to bring you back to the time when the novel and the events in it occurred. Because of the rules of the time that Hucks character is governed upon, Huck was never educated.
During the early 1800s there was no law that required children to go to school, therefore his low intellect has a strong impact on Hucks character. It gives him a plain and simple outlook on life, this trait can been seen throughout the book in Hucks character. One specific area it affects is Hucks plans for his future. Huck only thought about what he was going to do for present. Huck had an incapable father. He was thought of as the town drunk, and would often come home intoxicated and abuse Huck. At one point his father locked Huck up in a small room without food or water for days.
The setting is important here because if Hucks father were to treat his son in an abusive manner today, he would lose custody of his child. A good example of Hucks unloving relationship was Hucks reaction to his fathers death. When notified of his death he was relieved and felt safe! This detail can be used to illustrate the abuse that Huck went through in the beginning of the book, while living with his father. Because of Hucks fathers irresponsible actions, Huck ran away at a young age in the hope that someday he would find freedom from his father and society. By running away Huck saved himself from abuse and being taken advantage of.
One of the things Huck saved himself from was having 6,000 dollars, that Huck was awarded for the capture of two criminals in Tom Sawyer, being stolen from him by his father. Hucks separation from his father is also the reason for his free thinking, responsibility and innocence. These times of hardship formed him into a mature person and helped contribute to his independent personality. Without the influence of the setting Huck would have never been able to achieve the freedom that he had by being independent. When Huck ran away he joined up with Jim, who was also running away, but from something different.
Jim was fleeing from slavery, a common practice of the time. Hucks relationship with Jim contributed to Hucks non-prejudice thinking. Another factor that gave Huck a understanding of how the slaves must have felt was the prejudice that he experienced himself , being part of the lower class. Huck was infuriated when people looked down upon him for something that was no fault of his, he was born into the class because of his fathers social status. For these reasons Huck always treated Jim as an equal, making Huck ahead of his time. Jim knew that Huck respected him, as a result Jim risked his own life to save Huck.
Hucks independence and lack of education resulted in a mind that was never influenced by adults beliefs. This allowed Huck to have thoughts based on what he believed in, not traditions that are simply carried on by messengers of the pasts beliefs. Although traditions are often good they prevent new ideas from entering peoples minds. This made Huck original, this individuality could be seen with his relationship with Jim. During this period of American history slaves were looked down upon, but Huck, being an independent thinker, looked up to Jim for who he was, not for the color of his skin.
This was made obvious by their moon lit conversations on the raft. On the raft Huck and Jim talked about their past and future, friends and how they planned to avoid trouble that could result from their next adventure. From the raft conversations the reader was able to see how Jim longed for freedom and had feelings just like everyone else, especially Huck. As the novel progressed Hucks relationship with Jim grew stronger. In the beginning of the book Huck often called Jim Nigger Jim. ” This was not because of any hatred that Huck had towards Jim.
It was only a term commonly used to refer to blacks. But by the end of the book Huck would only call Jim by his name. This change in dialogue clearly illustrates how the relationship grew stronger during their adventures. By the end of the novel Huck risked his own life to free Jim in the final escape attempt. This happened when Huck and Tom freed Jim from a holding cell. They were spotted, chased and then shot at by the men who had captured Jim. If the story were to take place in another time, where slavery did not exist, it could have hid Hucks individuality that slavery shed light on.
During the river adventures that Huck and Jim shared Huck realized that because of his economic status he was dependent on the river to survive. This can clearly be seen by looking at the origin of his name Huckleberry. He was given this name because at a young age he had been eating huckleberries. His dependence made him loyal to the Mississippi River. The personification of the river that Huck uses clearly shows his feelings and thankfulness to the river. The personification also helped show how important the river was to not only Huck but to all of the river towns and
