mark twain
Mark Twain, a Racist?Mark Twain was a man that was way ahead of his time. In a time when people were judged on color,Mark Twain grew up in Florida, Missouri (Mandelbrot, Twain). In Missouri and Louisiana combined there were less than one half a million white persons (Chang, Twain p. 21). Which meant the black population was abundant. While growing up Twain had no telegraph, no railroads, no stage lines of any consequence (Twain, www.marktwain.com). Also maps were scarcely ever found. So Twain didn't really get to communicate with different people that were outside his little town. Twain was a sixth child so he had many siblings to look up too.When Twain was young he was kept indoors mostly because of his poor health. He stayed mostly in the house until he was about nine, when he seemed to recover and join the rest on the town's children outside. Twain attended private school. He attended private school for the first time at the age of nine.Twain didn't have very luxurious life growing up because his family was extremely poor. Because of his upbringing, Twain started believing that slavery was part of the natural order. Twain's childhood may not have been luxurious but it was a curious childhood full of weird, fantastic
impressions and many contradictory influences. Like his father never really being there for his kids. All of the children of that time were fond of the Negroes and confined in them. They would, in fact, have been lost without such protection and company. Slave punishment; too was not unknown, even in the household. Sometimes the punishment would be that their hands would be tied together with a bridle rein, and administered astisement across the shoulders with a cowhide. These were things all calculated to impress a sensitive child. This was commonplace enough for that time and locality.When Twain was 12 years old his father died. Then at age thirteen Twain dropped out of school. Because he grew up in a port city he had more job opportunities. His jobs consisted of numerous printing jobs and a river pilots apprentice, and then later on he became a licensed river pilot in 1858. Clemens' pseudonym, Mark Twain comes from his river pilot days.All the games and the daily talk concerned fanciful semi-African conditions and strange primal possibilities. The children of that time believed in spells and charms and bad luck signs, all learned of their Negro guardians. But if the Negroes were the chief companions and protectors of the children, they were likewise one of their discomforts. The greatest real dread children knew was the fear of meeting runaway slaves."The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" is considered to be one of Twain's masterpieces. The book is about a boy named Huck, who flees from his father by rafting down the Mississippi River with a run
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Approximate Word count = 1060
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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