Mark+Twain

Mark Twain

-Actual name is Sam Clever -Born in a small town in Missouri, which was a border state in the civil war -rebellious as a young child -worked on a steam boat -which is stopped once the civil war arrived -the war even divided his family between sides -went west instead of joining one side's military. (to Nevada) -failed at gold mining -so he went to Virginia City and got a job as a Journalist -where he took on the name Mark Twain -after being challenged to a duel he left for San Francisco -gained success with his short stories -performed them to an audience -traveled the globe

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 * add any extra information on Mark Twain.

i found it interesting that his childhood ambition was a be a steam boat operator. That seems to me to be a strange job to dream about as a kid. This is what i thought at first of course. After i thought about though it would make sense that these kids from this small River town would want to do that. They see these boats drive by and they think that the captains have all the freedom in the world. Most of those kids probably never left their town and to see the opertunity to drive their own boat where ever they want to go would be very inviting. They probably think of all the adventures they would have. But it turns out that the drivers have a very strict route they must sail and it is a very hard job to do. I also thought it was cool that Clever still thought it was a fun thing to do after all those years. unlike most childhood ambitions that die out after a while. Like being a fireman. 1205169674

Twain was an extremely interesting man mostly because of how much he moved around and expierenced new and exciting challenges in his life. It seemed as if during the movie Twain was always just capitalizing on whatever came at him, he took the trip to Nevada, tried mining, failed, wrote for a newspaper, left that newspaper and failed at it, then went back to the old one. Twain was a brilliant man and I found it interesting how much he had to work to achieve his success in writing short stories and novels as well. He seemed like a truly dedicated man. The movie was very interesting and went into great detail about the intricacies of his life. I've read both Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn and I would say they were brilliant I didn't want to stop reading either of them (especially Tom Sawyer). I hope we get to continue discussing Twain and read more of his short stories (and I would hope a novel as well!) 1205272515

For the most part I thought that Mark Twain (Sam Clemens) life was kinda interesting. The main things that I thought were interesting were: his "dream job" was working on a steam boat, he completly avoided the civil war, and changed his name. Today everyones' dream, it seems like, is to become a millionare doing (fill in the blank), well back then it was almost like that but a lot of peoples "fill in the blank" was being a steam boat driver. Many people wanted to become a steam boat driver because they were the people that got paid a lot compared to the other everyday jobs and they got to travel the world. The only draw back to being a steam boat driver was they needed to have an amazing memory, they needed to memorize every geographical feature there was. Another interesting thing about Mark Twain was that he completly avoided the civil war. When the civil war really started to make an impact and start up that was when he knew that he had to get out of there. He was born on a border state so for the most part every family member of his had their own opinion on who was right, the north or the south. Instead of getting involved in this conflict he just avoided it all together by going with his brother west. Lastly, Mark Twain wasn't his real name that was just his pen name. When he was born he was given the name Sam Clemens. He later changed his name when he started to write all of his famous works. Overall, he had an interesting life. 1205274978

I think twain is pretty cool because he does what everybody wants to, he follows his dreams wherever they take him. When we are young we all have interesting things that we want to do in life. How cool would it be to actually be succesful in accomplishing these dreams. I always wanted to be an astronaut, i dont know why. Twain's dream of being a riverboat pilot came about because his home town was along the mississippi river, and this was a common thing there. Had he lived in Arizona he probably would have had a different dream. I wish i could be like twain, then one day i could leave earth. Mme

In the movie today, they talked about how mark Twain went through deaths in his life. He had close members die. I was thinking about it and so many of the writers we have read in class have had people close to them pass away. I think that death affects writers and how they write their storeis. For example, writers like Emily Dickinson and Mark Twain usually have someone die in their stories. Death is something that affects all writers. Novels and stories seem to change whenever the opinion the writer has changed. Such strong emotions such as death or love can change anything in a second, or a chapter. mark Twain had a rough life, but toughed it out through his writings.1205369986ape2

Facts about Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain 1205374310KCa
 * Born in 1835
 * Grew up in the small river town of Hannibal, Missouri.
 * As a boy, he met many people that he soon wrote about
 * Father dies in 1847-Clemens was forced to leave school and work as a printer's apprentice
 * Also served as a riverboat pilot until 1861, when the Civil War closed the Mississippy to boat traffic.
 * Clemens got the name Mark Twain while being at a job as a reporter for a newspaper
 * Twain had a very dry sense of humor which not everyone appriciated.

When I read the background information about Mark Twain, I was very suprised to learn a lot about him. His real name is Samuel Clemens, who worked on steamboat, but had to stop once the Civil War approached. But what surprised me most was that he was inspired to write by those who he had lost in his life. I agree with ape because I think that death is something that greatly inspired writers. I believe that all writers have to find something to write about and that some find what they want to write about in all different situations, and I think that it is wonderful that someone can be influenced by someone that much to want to write for all people to read. 1205377548

I'm really excited to start reading books by and learning more about Sam Clemens(Mark Twain). I think that he is such an interesting writer and he is easy to understand. There are many things that I like about Mark Twain and his work. He lived in the 19th century which was a lot more recent than any of these other writers. He had a way of being funny when he wrote but in a different kind of way. Also a lot of his stories are very simple and easy to understand unlike Poe and Dickinson. A few of his very famous books aren't actually children books but they're very young in a way. We already know a little about him like he seemed to of just had such a normal life, or at least for his time. Some of the other poets and writers had such depressed lives or many issues. Mark Twain seems to be so normal like we could know him on a personal level. 1205456075

Mark Twain. Some people might refer to him as a writer. Others like to side with "humorist". For me, honestly, I'm on both sides. He is a fantastic writer, yet I can't help but laugh everytime I read his work. The words and sentences he uses are in a humor fashion. Its almost like when you hear someone reading his writings so seriously, you want to laugh even harder. To add on to Twain, he is an author and platform entertainer who became very popular in his own day, "Samuel Clemens" participated in the major literary movements of the century and knew every one of his opponents.Its seems that outside forces that speak of Mark Twain have emphasized the incredibly opposed forces that characterized his temperament and his work. 1205467884

I thought the movie was very interesting, and it provided a lot more information about the mysterious Mark Twain. I especially like his name, and the true meaning behind it. One man interpreted it as Mark Twain living on the edge, as in steamboat captain language it had two meanings. The first is the water has gone from safe to unsafe, and the second is vice versa. The movie gives a very good interpretation of this, and his struggles give me a lot more respect for him. Even though he went through many difficult things, and had a hard time being around for his wife and kids at times, he still was very strong and pushed his way through many struggles in his life. 1205468930

That list up there is impressive and it shows how unique he is, but this not show how he is like the movie does. I feel the movie gives you a truely better prespective of what he is like. You really have to see the movie to get the true vibe from sam Clever. I thought that was pretty cool how he followed his childhood ambition and actually did what he wanted and that was to be a steam boat captain, this shows his dedication and i admire him for that. We all say we want to be fireman or policemen but we never follow through, him following through on his chilhood dream is very admirable. Overall the research is acurate but you need to watch the movie to get the true vibe of the real Matk Twain. 1205470359