Presentation "My favourite book"

My favourite book

Made by

Olga Teterina,

51-EF gr.

Mark Twain

The Prince and the Pauper

Contents

• Biography
• Literature career
• My favourite book
• Conclusion
• Quotes

Biography

• Real name is: Samuel Langhorne Clemens
• Was born: Florida, Missouri, on November 30,1835 but lived as a child in Hannibal, Missouri, on the Mississippi River.
• He had 6 brothers
• In 1852 he wrote his first story :” the Dandy Frightening the Squatter

• He took the pen name Mark Twain from the call of the pilots on the river steamers, which indicated that the water was twelve feet deep, a safe depth for a steamer.
• During his early years, he worked as a riverboat pilot, newspaper reporter, printer, and gold prospector.
• Then he turned to writing, and became one of the greatest of American writers.

His masterpiece:

• Innocents Abroad 1869
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 1876
• The Prince and the Pauper 1882
• Life on the Mississippi 1883
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 1885

In 1861, Samuel Clemens took his first writing job as reporter.

Serious news was often mixed with “reports”. Soon, he began using the name Mark Twain. It was a time when he first discovered his talent, his calling, and his voice.

These pictures of western towns help to illustrate the next phase of Twain’s career as a reporter. The pictures helps us visualize Twain during this period of his life.

At 34 years he married Olivia Langdon Clemens. She was the daughter of a New York coal magnate, a member of the country’s wealthy elite. She would be partner, editor, and fellow traveler in success and failure for the next thirty-five years. She would also furnish him her family’s home in Elmira, New York, a place where he visited often and wrote many of his best-loved books.

Twain enjoyed a successful marriage with his wife. He lived and wrote in New York where he met Olivia Langdon. It was here that he worked on Huckleberry Finn .

People loved his lectures that he gave as he traveled. He became a performer as a humorist. Hal Holbrook, today with his imitation of Mark Twain, captures what Twain must have been like as a speaker.

He developed as a speaker and traveled on lecture circuits, much in demand. His early performances combined humor, information and eloquence in measures that delighted most people.

The Prince and the Pauper

• The Prince and the Pauper was first published in 1881 in Canada.
• The book represents Twain's first attempt at historical fiction.
• Twain's popular novel describes the adventures of two young boys, Tom Canty, a pauper who lives with his father in Offal Court, London, and Prince Edward, son of Henry VIII of England, who exchange roles and places in life.

Tom Canty, youngest son of a family of beggars living with the dregs of society in Offal Court, has always had aspirations to a better life, encouraged by the local priest who has taught him to read and write.

Experiences the brutish life of a pauper first hand, Prince Edward becomes aware of the stark class As Edward inequalities in England at that time. In particular, he realizes the harsh nature of the English judicial system, witnessing women burned at the stake and whipping.

He vows to reign with mercy when he regains his rightful place.

After a series of adventures, including a stint in prison, Edward manages to exchange places with Tom just as the latter is about to celebrate his coronation.

Tom is eager to give up the throne, but the nobles refuse to believe that the beggarly child is the rightful king, until he produces the Great Seal that he had hidden before leaving the palace.

Edward and Tom finally switch back.

As for Tom, in gratitude in supporting the new King's claim to the throne, Edward names him "The King's Ward," a privileged position he holds for the rest of his life.

In the end, they all live happily for quite some time. The afterword mentions that Edward died at a young age.

The Prince and the Pauper is a beautiful fairy-tale about justice and injustice. According to Mark Twain the contrast between poverty and luxury is unjust; the idea that the people from the lowest strata of society are inferior is wrong. He showed that they have as much common sense and wit as their social superiors.

The second theme Mark Twain deals with is the corruptive influence of money and flattery on good people.

"Tom Canty liked clothes and ordered more of them. 400 servants he found not enough and made them thrice as many. The flattery of courtiers sounded music to him".

Conclusion

Mark Twain was one of the great artists of all time. He was and is one authentic giant of our national literature.

Twain's quotes and humor are as popular today as at any time in American history. 

“ Be respectful to your superiors, if you have any.”

“ The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.”

What is a classic novel?

“ Classic-a book which people praise and don't read.”

“ It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.”

This is one of my favorite from Mark Twain.

“ Humor is mankind's greatest blessing.”

Doing this research about Twain made me want to read more of his short stories and books.

“ Get a bicycle. You will not regret it. If you live.”

The End