The name of the boy whose adventures were described by the American writer. Where Tom Sawyer Lived

Mark Twain(1835-1910),

Mark Twain is an American writer whose real name is Samuel Langhorne Clemens. He spent his childhood in the small town of Hannibal on the Mississippi River.
"Mark Twain" is an old term for American rivermen ( “measure-two”, “mark-two”), which meant a depth sufficient for ships to pass through. So Mark Twain’s literary pseudonym was given to him by the river on which he spent days as a boy.

Many people have moved from childhood memories to the pages of Mark Twain's works. real events from childhood. In the preface to the story of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain wrote: “Most of the adventures described in this book happened in reality: two or three happened to me, the rest - to my schoolmates.”

Under the name Tom Sawyer, three inseparable friends are described at once, constant participants in games of pirates and “noble” robbers:
. the young mischief maker Sam Clemens himself (it was he who gave the cat medicine, it was he who brought home snakes and bats, filling his pockets with them to the great horror of his mother);
. Sam's schoolmate Willie Bowen;
. great prankster and daredevil Thomas Sawyer Spivey.

The character of Becky Thacher is based on Laura Hawkins, who lived next door to Sam.

Huck Fin is an accurate portrait of Tom Blenkenship. He lived in a dilapidated shack on the outskirts of the city, often went hungry, walked in rags and sometimes slept under open air. But he liked it: he despised “vile and stuffy houses.”

Tom's younger brother, the quiet and sneaky Sid, is Henry, the younger brother of Samuel Clemens. He never caused any trouble to adults, unlike the inexhaustible prankster Sam.

Strict Aunt Polly is based on Mark Twain's mother, Olivia Clemens.

In Hannibal, it seems, nothing has changed since then. There are no skyscrapers or high-rise buildings here.

Tourists are shown the places where events from Mark Twain's novels took place: the two-story house where the Clemens family lived, the legendary fence that the cunning Tom had to paint, Dr. Grant's pharmacy - in difficult times for the family, the Clemens lived with him and the writer's father died here.

The shack of drunken parent Huck Finn did not survive; it was demolished in the 40s of the last century. However, in its place there is a memorial plaque.

The most beautiful house on Hill Street belongs to Judge Hawkins, Laura's father.
By the way, Mark Twain had a happy marriage with Livey Langdon, the only woman in his life, but he maintained friendly relations with Laura until his death. After her marriage, she left for another city, but, having become a widow, she returned to Hannibal, where she worked with orphans.

Mark Twain lived a long life bright life. He traveled all over the world. He worked as a pilot's assistant, a newspaperman, and tried his hand - not very successfully - in the entrepreneurial field.

World fame came to him in the field of literature. He became the most famous American of his time. Tourists came to America to see Niagara Falls and... Mark Twain.

And, despite his sharp tongue, even his enemies respected him. When Twain passed away, his close friend Wilbur Nesbitt said at the funeral: “The only sorrow that Mark Twain caused the world was that he died.”

Mark Twain is a writer who made great contributions to journalism and social activities. His creativity was not limited to a certain direction. He wrote humorous and satirical works, journalism and even science fiction. On the other hand, the author always adhered to a democratic and humanistic position. The description of life should begin with the fact that Mark Twain’s real name is completely different. The initials by which he is known throughout the world are his pseudonym. The history of its origin is quite interesting. The real name of the writer is Samuel Langhorne Clemens.

The appearance of a pseudonym

How did the idea of ​​creating a different name come about? Samuel Clemens himself said that "Mark Twain" was taken from river navigation terminology. IN early years he held the position of assistant pilot on the Mississippi. Each time the message that the minimum mark had been reached, which was acceptable for the passage of river boats, sounded like “Mark Twain”. It turns out there is nothing unusual in this story.

However, there is another version why the writer changed his real name to Mark Twain. In 1861, the Northern Star magazine published a story written in a humorous direction by Artemus Ward. One of the main characters was named Mark Twain. Clemens really liked the humorous section, and for his early performances he chose stories from this particular author.

Childhood and adolescence

Samuel Clemens (real name Mark Twain) was born on November 30, 1835 in the small town of Florida, which was located in Missouri. When the boy was 4 years old, his parents, in search of a way to improve their lives, decided to move to the city of Hannibal. He was in the same state. The image of this particular town and its inhabitants was later reflected in most of Mark Twain’s published books.

Clemens's father died of pneumonia in 1847, leaving him with a large amount of debt. To improve the family's financial situation, the eldest son decided to publish a newspaper, to which young Samuel made a major contribution. The boy was engaged in typing, and sometimes published as an author of articles. The most lively and interesting works were written by the future Mark Twain. Usually such materials were published when his brother was away. Clemens also traveled occasionally to St. Louis and New York.

Pre-literary activity

The biography of Mark Twain is interesting not only for his literary creations. Before devoting himself to the work of a writer, he worked as a pilot on a steamship ship. Clemens himself later said that if not Civil war, he would continue to work on the ship. Since private shipping was prohibited, the young man had to change his type of activity.

May 22, 1861 is marked in the biography of Mark Twain by the fact that he joined the Masonic fraternity. The writer knew firsthand about the people's militia, which he vividly described in 1861. In the summer of that year he went west. TO interesting facts His biography also includes his experience as a miner in Nevada, where silver was mined. But his mining career did not work out, so Clemens decided to try himself as a newspaper employee.

Beginning of a literary career

In a Virginia newspaper, Clemens (Mark Twain's real name was indicated just above) was first published under a pseudonym. In 1864, he moved to San Francisco, where he began collaborating with several newspapers at once. The year 1865 was marked by the fact that Mark Twain achieved his first success as a writer. His story, written in a humorous genre, was published and recognized as the best.

In the spring of 1866, Twain went on a trip to Hawaii. On behalf of the newspaper, he had to tell in letters about what happened to him during the trip. After returning to their native lands, these descriptions were a huge success. Soon the writer received an offer to go on a tour of the state with interesting lectures, which the public listened to with pleasure.

Publication of the first book

Twain received his first real recognition as a writer for another book, which also contained his travel stories. In 1867, he went to travel around Europe as a correspondent. Clemens also visited Russia: Odessa, Yalta, Sevastopol. Interesting facts about Mark Twain include his visit as part of a ship’s delegation, when he visited the residence of the Emperor of Russia.

The author sent his impressions to the editor, then they were published in the newspaper. Later they were combined into one book called "Simps Abroad." It was released in 1869, which was an immediate success. Throughout his creative career, Twain visited Europe, Asia, America and Australia.

In 1870, when Mark Twain was at the height of his popularity, he married and moved to Buffalo, then to Hartford. At this time, the writer gave lectures not only in America, but also abroad. Afterwards he began to work in the genre of sharp satire, criticizing the American government.

Creative career

Mark Twain's books are still loved by readers all over the world. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn made the greatest contribution to American literature. It is difficult to find a person who would not be familiar with this work. “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, “The Prince and the Pauper” and other books also enjoy popular love and success. Today they are in the home libraries of many families. Most of his public appearances and lectures have not survived.

Interesting facts about Mark Twain include the fact that some works were banned from publication by the writer himself during his lifetime. The lectures were interesting to the audience because Clemens had a talent for speaking in public. When he achieved fame and recognition, he began to look for young talents and helped them take their first steps in the literary field. The writer used useful contacts in literary circles and his own publishing company.

For example, he was very friendly with Nikola Tesla. Mark Twain was interested in science, which is confirmed by the descriptions of various technologies in the books. From time to time his works were banned by censorship. Some works that could offend people's religious feelings were not published at the request of the writer's family. Mark Twain himself, with his characteristic sense of humor, took censorship lightly.

The last years of the writer's life

Mark Twain experienced the loss of three of his four children and the death of his wife. Despite his depressed state, he never lost his ability to joke. His financial situation was not better condition. Most of the savings were invested in a new model of the machine, which was never released. The rights to Mark Twain's books were stolen by plagiarists.

In 1893, the writer was introduced to the famous oil magnate Henry Rogers. Soon their acquaintance grew into a strong friendship. His death greatly upset Twain. Samuel Clemens, who is known throughout the world as Mark Twain, died on April 21, 1910. This is the same year that Halley's Comet passed by.

Mark Twain's biography is rich in bright events, ups and downs. However, he always treated everything with humor. And his contribution to literature - not only American, but also worldwide - is great. And now all the boys, and girls too, as well as adults, continue to read about the adventures of two mischievous children - Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.

Mark Twain American writer and journalist Mark Twain was born in 1835, on the day when Halley's Comet flew near the Earth, and died in 1910, on the day of its next appearance near the Earth's orbit.

Mark Twain The writer's real name is Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Twain's literary pseudonym was given to him by the Mississippi River, on which he spent days as a boy. Sam Clemens was not yet 23 years old when he received his pilot's license and for five years worked on a steamboat, piloting ships on the river of his childhood. "Mark Twain!" - the boat sailor shouted at the riffle, making sure that the depth reached two fathoms (about 4 meters), and therefore was safe for the ship to pass.

Mark Twain Under this signature - Mark Twain - since 1863 everything he published has been published. Every time he finished the book and signed it, he must have remembered his native places and his free life. And he wanted what he wrote to always contain a piece of this unique light, a breath of air from his native places. Monument to Mark Twain in Hannibal

Mark Twain America of the mid-19th century... America of Mark Twain and his favorite heroes... These Americans are amazing people! In the 19th century, they had a passion for pompous names. Children were named after heroes, and small settlements were given the names of famous cities. Some village with two or three streets sported the sonorous name of New Athens, Cairo or Moscow. Twain's hometown was christened after the Carthaginian commander Hannibal, whose armies in ancient times devastated the flourishing provinces Ancient Rome. And although the future writer was born in the village of Florida, it was Hannibal that became Sam’s small homeland - a place of games, mischief and meeting friends - the future prototypes of his books.

Mark Twain As an adult, Mark Twain did not often visit the place where he spent his childhood and youth. But the river remained with him during these long years of separation. The writer's heart was given to her forever. He admitted to his friend, the writer Howells: “I am one of those who would give up literature at any moment to take the helm again.” Embankment in the town of Hannibal

“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” Many real events from childhood also passed from childhood memories to the pages of Mark Twain’s works. In the preface to the book about Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain wrote: “Most of the adventures described in this book happened in reality: two or three happened to me, the rest - to my school friends.”

“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” Under the name of Tom Sawyer, three inseparable friends are described at once, constant participants in games of pirates and “noble” robbers: the young mischief maker Samuel Clemens himself (it was he who gave the cat medicine, it was he who brought home snakes and bats); Sam's schoolmate Willie Bowen; big prankster Thomas Sawyer Spivey.

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" The character of Becky Thacher is based on Laura Hawkins, who lived next door to Sam. “Becky Thacher House” Mark Twain spent his childhood in this house

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" Huck Finn is an accurate portrait of Tom Blenkenship. He lived in a dilapidated shack on the outskirts of the city, often went hungry, walked in rags and sometimes slept in the open air. But he liked it: he despised “vile and stuffy houses.” The path to Huckleberry Finn's house The shack of Huck Finn's parent has not survived. It was demolished in the 40s of the XX century. However, in its place there is a memorial plaque.

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" Tom's younger brother, the quiet and sneaky Sid, is Henry, the younger brother of Samuel Clemens. He never caused any trouble to adults, unlike the inexhaustible prankster Sam. Strict Aunt Polly is based on Mark Twain's mother, Olivia Clemens. Portraits of Mark Twain's parents in the writer's house-museum. City of Hannibal

“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” Tom Sawyer Days are held annually in the town of Hannibal. There are Twain readings, a fair, amusing mud volleyball competitions, children's competitions for the fastest frog, and sack races for girls. . . But the highlight of the program, of course, is the fence painting competition. Participants must be at least eight and no more than thirteen years of age. To the right of the Clemens house is "Tom Sawyer's Fence". Near the fence there is a bucket of paint and a brush.

"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" In the center of the town of Hannibal is Cardiff Hill. And on the hill there is a monument to two barefoot boys - Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, the heroes of Mark Twain's most popular books. The guys are depicted as carefree and mischievous as many generations of readers imagine them to be. They even immortalized a dead cat - she is tied to a stick that Huck is holding.

Mark Twain lived a great, colorful life. He traveled all over the world. He worked as a pilot's assistant, a newspaperman, and tried his hand at business. He became the most famous American of his time. Tourists came to America to see Niagara Falls and... Mark Twain.

And, despite his sharp tongue, Twain was respected even by his enemies. When the writer died, his close friend Wilbur Nesbit said at the funeral: “The only grief that Mark Twain caused the world was that he died.” A model of the sculpture, invented for the centenary of Mark Twain’s birth, but never brought to life. During the Great Depression, there was no one who could donate $1 million for these purposes.

140 years ago (1876), Mark Twain’s book “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” was published.
Several generations of Russian children grew up reading this wonderful book by an American writer.
Writer Mark Twain (real name Samuel Lehhorn Clemens) was born in 1835 in Missouri in a small village where his father, a man of stern and independent character, owned a trading post for several years.
The mother of the future writer was a woman of rare kindness and fortitude. Mark Twain inherited her extraordinary emotional sensitivity and amazing sense of humor.
By the age of ten, the boy had turned into a hardy tomboy, not inferior to his friends in fighting, swimming, or readiness for any adventure. Many of the childhood adventures he later described in his books happened to him himself.
When the boy was 12 years old, his father died. It was financially difficult for the mother to raise her son, and she got him a job as a typesetter's apprentice in a printing house. In addition, he delivered newspapers to subscribers' homes. But in the boy’s soul there lived a dream of becoming a pilot, learning all the secrets of his native Mississippi River and driving ships along it.
Pilotage science was very complex at that time, but gradually the young man became one of the best pilots. At the same time, the future writer sends short articles and jokes to newspapers. He signed these materials with various fictitious names. This is how the pseudonym was born - Mark Twain - a phrase from the vocabulary of pilots. “Mark Twain! (“A measure or two!”) - the sailor shouted at the riffle, which meant - “the passage is clear!” This phrase sounded like a password to the sailors: the depth of the river in this place is about two fathoms. And the ship can calmly follow its course. “Mark Twain” - these two words, the best for pilots, became the middle name of Samuel Clemens when his time came.
In 1866, Twain was sent as a newspaper correspondent to the Sandwich Islands. The result of this journey was a collection of articles.
In 1867, Mark Twain, along with other journalists, went on a trip to the Mediterranean Sea. The result of this trip was the first significant book, “Innocents Abroad.” The next book was the novel “The Tempered,” which tells about young people who rushed to explore the treasures of the Far West.
In America in the 70s of the 19th century, Mark Twain could not live only on literature. In passing, he began to invent. He invented an automatic fastener for vests and patented a scrapbook for sticking scrapbooks.
The next work was the novel “The Gilded Age”. It reflects many pages of the life of the Twain family. In the summer of 1874, Mark Twain finally decided to write a book about the Missouri tomboy Tom Sawyer. In 1876, a book entitled The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was published. In essence, this is a book about Twain himself, about his childhood. The adventures of her hero, Tom, largely repeat the facts from the childhood life of the writer himself. There is the whitewashing of a fence, running away from school, illegal swimming, and even the story of a collar sewn with other threads. This is not an autobiographical book, but it contains a lot of direct impressions of childhood, real facts of the author’s own biography. In the preface to the book, Mark Twain says that Tom Sawyer is not based on one person, but is a combination of the characters of three boys I know. They were the author himself, his schoolmate Will Bowen and a boy from Shawneetown. This lively and cheerful twelve-year-old boy told Twain about his school pranks and pranks. And his name was Thomas Sawyer Spivey. All situations and adventures in the story, according to the author himself, took place in real life(except for the story of the treasure found and the death of Injun Joe).
Mark Twain depicts in his book the stagnant life of the provincial town of St. Petersburg in comic tones. The slightest event plunges the whole city into indescribable excitement, which is explained by the absence of any more significant incidents. The hero of the story, Tom Sawyer, lives and acts in this atmosphere. The most important thing in this boy is an indomitable thirst to live freely, interestingly, colorfully, so that all the boys he knows will languish with envy, and the adults will be dumbfounded with surprise. The children of the town, led by the resilient Tom Sawyer, persistently struggle with deadly boredom in everyday life, in the family, and at school.
The background of all boys’ games is nature - a mighty river, a forest with its romance of a “robber” life, a cave with its beauty and fears, a thunderstorm and lightning that caught children in the forest.
In his story, Mark Twain also criticizes the school system: cramming, beatings, and the stupid formalism of lessons. Children cram the lesson assigned by the teacher, and the teacher can only be an overseer at this time and do whatever he wants.
For Tom, school is “prison and shackles,” and the school week is “a week of torment.” It was not for nothing that every morning the boy feverishly looked for a way to avoid going to school, and happiness if a sore finger or a loose tooth turned up.
Tom's teacher is a "vindictive animal." He takes pleasure in flogging his students, and Tom sometimes gets hit twice during a lesson.
As a result, Mark Twain himself did not suspect what he had achieved: pictures from life on the Mississippi, a poem about a person’s youth, a satire on the life of American towns with their Sunday schools and bourgeois morality, or a romantic story for children.
Mark Twain himself believed that The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was “not a children's book. It will be read only by adults, written only for adults.” However, this book entered the treasury of world children's literature; the writer himself dubbed it “a hymn in prose.”
In 1882, the historical mischievous tale “The Prince and the Pauper” was published; in 1883, the memoir-novel “Life on the Mississippi,” the most lyrical and mournful novel; in 1885, the writer wrote the story “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”
At the end of the 19th century in one of school essays on the topic “Who would you like to be?” some American boy wrote: “I would like to be Mark Twain... firstly, because he is such a funny guy, I think he is a real clown...”.

18. Mark Twain “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”

Mark Twain is not only one of the most famous writers America, but also a generally significant figure throughout American culture. Twain can rightfully be called an art historian of the United States.

Bernard Shaw said that the researcher of the American society XIX century will have to turn to Twain no less often than a historian of French society of the 18th century will have to turn to the works of Voltaire. William Faulkner wrote that Mark Twain was “the first truly American writer, and we have all been his heirs ever since.” According to Ernest Hemingway, “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.” This is our best book... There was nothing like it before. Nothing equal has been written so far.”

Mark Twain (real name Samuel Langhorne Clemens)- American writer and journalist. Years of life: 1835–1910. The novel "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" - published in 1876. The novel "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" - published in 1884.

The future writer was born in the small village of Florida in Missouri. Twain later joked that by being born he increased the population of Florida by one percent. After 4 years, the Clemens family moved to another small town - Hannibal. In the books about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, the town of St. Petersburg in which the heroes live is Hannibal.

When Sam was 12 years old, his father died. Then the boy dropped out of school and got a job at a local newspaper. When the young man turned 18, he left his native place, traveled a lot, at times even wandered, and visited many large and small cities in America.

At 22, Sam returned and got a job as a pilot on the Mississippi. This was an important milestone in the writer's life. In total, he sailed for 6 years and subsequently said that during this time he “learned and studied all imaginable types of human nature that can be found in fiction, biographical and historical literature.”

Sam really liked his work, and, who knows, if there had not been a war between the North and the South, perhaps the world would never have known the great writer Mark Twain... As a result of the war, the civil shipping industry fell into decline, and Sam was forced to look for another job. Since then, he has worked as a gold miner in California, a miner in Nevada, a newspaper reporter, a special correspondent, etc.

It was under the newspaper feuilletons that Samuel Langhorne Clemens began to sign the pseudonym Mark Twain.

In 1862, Twain’s story “Jim Smiley and the Famous Jumping Frog from Calaveras” was published in a famous New York newspaper, which was well received by both critics and the general reading public. After this Twain continues literary activity, and also travels throughout the country with oral performances from the stage, travels a lot, actively publishes...

By the end of the 1860s, Mark Twain was already world celebrity. His books are read not only in the USA, but in all countries of the world.

The most famous works Mark Twain - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Each of us probably remembers them from childhood. Both books, especially “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” are largely autobiographical, and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is considered the pinnacle of the writer’s work.

We can say that Tom Sawyer is Sam Clemens himself, his Aunt Paulie is Sam's mother, and St. Petersburg is the town of Hannibal, where the future writer grew up.

But the book about Tom Sawyer, unlike The Adventures of Huckleberry..., is not yet imbued with sadness and disappointment. It is full of lively humor and the warm atmosphere of the American province of the 1840s.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is written through the lens of a teenager. Therefore, even the tragic events taking place in the town do not overshadow the narrative, since they are all described from the point of view of a child, with an unclouded perception of life. The main characters of the book are ordinary teenagers who still believe that friendship is forever, play pranks, play, get bored in class, fall in love for the first time...

Huck Finn appears in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as Tom's friend. Together with other boys, they sail away on a raft, deciding to “become pirates” and “never return to civilized life.”

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck is already main character. The writer came up with the idea for this book immediately after the publication of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. In a letter to his friend, Twain writes: “The time will come, I will take a boy of 12 years and lead him through life... But not Tom Sawyer, he’s no good.” And if The Adventures of Tom Sawyer shows the life of only one small town, then the book about Huck covers a larger space, and, consequently, more human destinies and problems.

Huck and Jim, a black runaway slave, go down the Mississippi on a raft, travel through coastal towns, and meet different people. Huckleberry Finn is a street kid who runs away from St. Petersburg to escape his drunkard father. And the black man Jim is running away from his mistress, who wants to sell him and thereby separate him from his family.

Huck and Jim want to swim to the North, where Jim can become a free man. And despite the fact that Huck is a typical representative of a slave-owning society, who considers helping runaway slaves a sin, as a result, a sincere friendship develops between these two heroes.

On their way, Huck and Jim meet various people and experience many adventures.

Most of those whom fugitives meet are people of no integrity. And thus the writer further emphasizes the “realness” and sincerity of the main characters.

The novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is one of the best creations of Mark Twain, and indeed American literature, which largely determined its further development. This text is an introductory fragment.