Called “The Father of American Literature” by William Faulkner, Mark Twain was the one of the greatest writers of the nineteenth century and realized the accomplishment of the American Dream that has eluded so many other authors. “He was America's greatest humorist, yet he ended up mankind's darkest cynic and most savage critic”(Otfinoski). Mark Twain stands out as one of the most impactful writers of his time and depicted the America that he knew with his literature and with his life.

Mark Twain became on of the greatest and most wealthy writers of his time but was originally born under the name Samuel Langhorne Clemens to a poor family in Florida, Missouri. He was born two months premature under the light of Halley’s Comet, a sign of good …show more content…
He believed there had to be an easier way to make a living other than manual labor so he decided to leave Hannibal and his family for greater things. “Telling his family he was headed for St. Louis, the young man—he was not yet 18—ended up in New York City, where the World's Fair was taking place”(Oakes). Here he took work as a printer briefly before heading to Philadelphia and then out west to meet back up with his brother Orion. He worked with Orion for about a year at his new printing shop before attempting to head to South America to join the cocoa trade but by the time he reached New Orleans he had fallen in love with riverboats all over again(Oakes). He signed on as an apprentice and slowly worked his way up to pilot. This is when he first heard his pseudonym “Mark Twain” which was a term used by the pilots to refer to the minimum safe depth of water for a riverboat to float through which was about twelve feet. He worked as a pilot on riverboats from 1857 to 1861 when the Civil War broke out and his boat was put into service by the Confederate Army. Though he briefly supported the confederacy his brother Orion was a Union Abolitionist and had been appointed the secretary of the new Territory of Nevada and Twain decided to join him once again looking for work. He traveled with his brother as his private secretary …show more content…
He decided to write his ideas of his travels into his first book Innocents Abroad and the Americans of his time, who were more confident of their standing in the world than previous generations, loved these stories and Mark Twain quickly became famous. “By the end of three years, the book had sold nearly 100,000 copies”(Oakes). This early success and the money gained off of it made him feel he was financially stable enough to start a family so in February 1870 married Olivia Langdon, who was the sister of a man he had met on his journey to Hawaii. The couple first moved to Buffalo, New York where they had been bought a house by Olivia’s father. Their first child was born in November of the same year. The following year they moved to Hartford, Connecticut were Twain built himself a home modeled partially after a riverboat and suiting of the countries most famous author and all was well but sadly a year later their son died. Shortly after this tragedy Twain published Roughing It a recalling of his and his brother’s journey to Virginia City. Later that same year they had another child, a daughter, who would become Mark Twain’s favorite. The family spent their years in Hartford as celebrities hosting people and parties and never having to worry about much. In 1881 he published two of his most famous books