A brief summary of Mark Twain’s life, Mark Twain’s writing characteristics and themes of his works

Mark Twain was an American writer and speaker. His real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens). "Mark Twain" is his pen name. It was originally a term used by sailors on the Mississippi River to indicate the depth of water measured along the waterway. Including the novels "Millions of Pounds", "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", and "Tom Sawyer".

When Mark Twain was 12 years old, his father died, so he had to stop studying and work as a worker in a factory. Later, he changed many careers and became a pilot, miner and reporter on the Mississippi River. He gradually began his writing career by writing some interesting sketches. He died on April 21, 1910, and was buried in Amara, New York.

Mark Twain created a large number of works throughout his life, involving novels, dramas, essays, poetry, etc. In terms of content, his works criticize irrational phenomena or the ugliness of human nature, expressing the author's strong sense of justice and concern for ordinary people who were once typesetters and sailors. In terms of style, both experts and general readers consider humor and irony to be hallmarks of his writing. He experienced the development process of the United States from early capitalism to imperialism, and his thoughts and creations also experienced stages of development from cynicism to bitter irony to pessimism and world-weariness. The early stage is famous for its pungent satire, and the later stage is more exposed and intense.

Mark Twain is the founder of American critical realism literature. Most of his major works have been translated into Chinese. In 2006, the authoritative American magazine "The Atlantic Monthly" ranked Mark Twain 16th among the 100 people who influenced the United States.

Character Experience

On November 30, 1835, Mark Twain was born into a poor rural lawyer family in Florida, Missouri. He was the sixth of seven children. His father was a local lawyer with a meager income and a poor family. Little Mark Twain had to work in school. When his father died when he was 11 years old, he began an independent working life. At first, he worked as an apprentice in a printing shop, working as a newspaper delivery and typesetter, and later as a sailor and helmsman on the Mississippi River.

In the fall of 1839, Mark Twain's family moved to Hannibal, Missouri, a port city on the Mississippi River, which became the inspiration for St. Petersburg in his later books "Tom Sawyer" and "The Naughty and the Wandering" . At the time, Missouri was a federal slave state, and the young Twain came to learn about slavery, which became the subject of his later adventure novels. Mark Twain was colorblind, which led to his humorous jokes in society.

On March 24, 1847, John Clemens, Mark Twain's father, died of pneumonia. In 1847, Mark Twain, who came from a poor family, began to work as a printing apprentice, newsboy, typesetter, sailor, gold prospector, reporter, etc.

In 1851, Mark Twain became a typesetter and made contributions. He began drafting the Hannibal Journal, which was created by his brother Orin.

On May 1, 1852, he published his first book, "The Colonists Surprised the Playboy," in the handbag of the Boston Humor Weekly.

In 1858, Mark Twain returned to Missouri. On the journey from the lower Mississippi River to New Orleans, the navigator "Bisbee" hoped Twain would become a lifelong navigator.

In 1861, President Lincoln sent Ouellette to serve as secretary to the local government in western Nevada. He worked with him to make a fortune from lumber and mining. Without success, he turned to writing to make a living. In 1862, he was working for a newspaper in Virginia, Nevada.

In 1863, he began to use the pen name "Mark Twain".

In 1864, I met the humorist Ward and the novelist Hart in San Francisco. With their encouragement and help, I improved my writing skills.

In 1865, a New York magazine published a humorous story called "The Famous Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," which made him famous throughout the country. From then on, he often wrote humorous articles for newspapers. In 1866, he went to Hawaii for an interview.

In 1867, a local newspaper offered a voyage to the Mediterranean. While traveling in Europe and the Middle East, he wrote his famous series of travel letters, Traveling for Fools, collected in 1869. During this time, he met Charles Langdon and saw a photo of Langdon's sister, Olivia Langdon. Twain fell in love at first sight.

In 1870, Mark Twain married Olivia Langdon, the daughter of a New York capitalist. After getting married, he lived in Buffalo, edited and published the Express, but lost too much money in one year and sold it.

The book "Hard Times" published in 1872 reflects his life experience in the newly developed Western Regions and records some interesting anecdotes, especially humorous stories with Western characteristics.

The Gilded Age, which he wrote with Richard Warner in 1873, was his first novel.

In 1871, Mark Twain's family moved to Hartford, Connecticut, where he became a famous author and humorous speaker. The next few years will be fruitful for his creations.

In 1875, Mark Twain wrote an article for "The Atlantic Monthly" at the invitation of William Dean Howells. In his early years, he wrote seven articles on the topic of being a helmsman on the Mississippi River, which were later compiled into a book called "The Past of the Mississippi River." Eight years later, he returned to his hometown and expanded the book to "On the Mississippi."

In 1876, the novel "Tom Sawyer" was published. Although this is a juvenile book set in a small town along the Mississippi River, it is loved by readers of all ages. This book contains a lot of information

Mark Twain's other important novel "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" was written in 1876 and published in 1884. The novel was highly praised by critics, popular with readers at home and abroad, and was repeatedly banned.

In 1889, Mark Twain published "King Arthur's Court". and "The American in Connecticut," a satire of feudalism and religion set in England.

In 1894, Mark Twain wrote "It", creating the image of a struggling slave Roxy. Before and after this, his family encountered misfortune: two daughters died of illness, and his wife's health deteriorated. He failed to invest in an automatic typesetter and went bankrupt. To pay off his debts, he gave lectures in Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, India and South America.

The Prince and the Poor Child was published in 1896 and describes the life of Joan of Arc, the French national heroine in the 15th century.

Journey to the Equator was written in 1897, in which satirizing and condemning imperialism’s oppression and opposition to colonial people became the central theme of his later creations.

Mark Twain paid off all his debts in 1898.

In October 1900, after leaving the United States and living in Europe for nearly ten years, he and his family returned to the United States and were warmly welcomed by the leaders of the literary and artistic circles.

After 1900, many works published on time did not lose their edge.

In 1904, his wife died in Italy. Mark Twain entered the final stage of his career. His early works, such as "Fool Wilson", all expressed pessimism about "man", which also became the theme of some of his works. The novella "The Life of Joan of Arc" and the essay "What is Man?" and the story "The Mysterious Visitor" are both reflected. The most important book of his later years was his autobiography, dictated by him and recorded by his secretary.

On April 21, 1910, Mark Twain died of angina pectoris.

Creative characteristics

Theme of the work

Criticizing the hypocritical politics of the United States

Mark Twain wrote the travelogue "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" "Record", which sharply exposed the collusion between political parties and the news media. Mark Twain noted: “In that era, navigators were the only people in the world who were completely independent from any restrictions. Unfree servants in the Royal Society. Congress met with a series of voters; the editor of this newspaper was affiliated with a political party. Contact. No preacher can speak freely and tell the truth if one does not care what his followers think. The author is just a slave to the readers, but then, before going to print, he has to. More or less lost the motivation to work.” It can be seen that Mark Twain saw through the authenticity of American political parties and elections and openly criticized them. It is Mark Twain's comprehensive exposure and attack on the American social democratic political system. This novel has a humorous style. In just a few pages, it unearths the corruption and darkness of the American electoral system. His thoughts are extremely profound. It exposed the dark side of the so-called "democratic" electoral system in the United States and the hypocrisy of the capitalist electoral system.

Criticize America's abnormal moral values

In Mark Twain's novel "The Man Who Ruined Hadleyburg", Mark Twain revealed the fact that money can control People lie, extort, and even kill. Money comes first. In the novel "On the Mississippi," the plot surrounding the construction of railroads, waterways, and universities summarizes the speculation and wealth psychology of the entire United States at that time. When portraying a typical character like Colonel Cyrus, this work uses unique language to show Colonel Cyrus's fanaticism: "To be rich, you must be rich no matter what, and the air is full of wealth. Colonel Cyrus He was misled by lies such as "Equal opportunities for all" and "Anyone who shines shoes can become a millionaire". He was always intoxicated with those risky plans and illusory enterprises, which made him lose the most basic human feelings. Because of his illusory waiting, his family lives in near-abject poverty. However, in the novel "Running for Governor", a million-pound poor man obtains satisfactory consumption and decent services without paying any bills in the capital. The human nature of money worship is extremely fragile and despicable in front of millions of dollars.

Criticism of the false religion in the United States

Mark Twain in his article "The Destruction of Hudbur." "The Righteous Man" sarcastically writes: "These pastors forget to mention that their God is the slowest man in the universe. His eyes that never sleep are as dull as those that have waited a century to see something that others only need a week to see. "In all of history, there is no example of a noble act that God thought of first. He was always one step slower than others thought and did one step slower. And then he came, showed up, and enjoyed the benefits of credit. If God really Why does he always appear after the fact? In the short story "The Gilded Age", Mark Twain depicts the happiness of heaven in a grotesque and ironic way. He believed and prayed that the "Plenipotentiary of God on earth" had promised him happiness in heaven, but after his death he felt extremely angry that this "contract" was just a scam. Happiness is a scam. In the novel "Millions of Pounds", Mark Twain used Father Amante as an example to criticize American missionaries in China. He criticized Amante and others for cruelly exploiting Chinese farmers and their families. Women and innocent children were left to starve to death. He used his hard-earned money to spread the gospel, affirming the Chinese people's suspicion and growing awareness of missionaries

Artistic Features

Mark. Twain's works have three characteristics:

First, he used his extremely exaggerated artistic imagination based on the Western humor tradition.

Second, his works are often in the first person. "I" is the protagonist, and this "I" is like the protagonist in a Chinese cross talk, playing various funny roles. Most of them are naive, honest, ignorant, simple-minded, and wishful thinking in everything, and the results are often counterproductive. To regard innocent people as heroes, the protagonist always has some ideal or some pure idea, but in fact it runs into obstacles everywhere, which shows that his ideal is unrealistic and unfeasible. The wider the gap.

Third, humor contains irony. When he summarized his experience in writing humorous stories in his autobiography, he said: "Humor for humor's sake will not last long. Humor is just a scent and a chore. I always warn others, which is why I can persist for 30 years." "Thirty years" refers to the period from when he started writing to when he wrote his autobiography. What he calls "admonishing others" refers to his The novel contains the serious creative goal of suppressing evil and promoting good.