"Education consists mainly in what we have unlearned” (Twain’s Notebook, 1898).

1. Journal.Choose one of the following Twain quotes, and respond in a free write. (What is Twain trying to say in this quote? How could this quotation relate to you/us today?) • "Education consists mainly in what we have unlearned” (Twain’s Notebook, 1898). • “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform” (Twain’s Notebook, 1904). • "Always do right. That will gratify some of the people, and astonish the rest” (Note to the Young People’s Society, Greenpoint Presbyterian Church, 1901). • “There are many humorous things in the world: among them the white man's notion that he is less savage than the other savages.(Following the Equator, 1897)

2. Samuel Langhorne Clemens "All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called "Huckleberry Finn." All American writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since." -- Ernest Hemingway

3. Mark Twain bio (short video): • http://www.biography.com/people/mark-twain-9512564/videos/mark-twain-mini-biography-610883765

4. Mark Twain • Born November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri • Parents were John M and Jane L. Clemens • He was the fifth surviving child • Halley’s comet appeared in the sky when he was born • In 1839 the family moved to Hannibal, Missouri Twain birth place

5. Twain’s life: • Grew up in Hannibal, Missouri • Worked as a printer (for both his brother and on his own) • Worked as a riverboat pilot • Briefly fought in the confederate army. • Married Olivia (Livy) Langdon • Had 4 children; all but one of them died by the age of 29.

6. Collected works: • 1892 The American Claimant1893 The £1,000,000 Bank-Note and Other New Stories1894 Tom Sawyer Abroad1894 The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson and the Comedy Those Extraordinary Twins1896 Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc1896 Tom Sawyer Detective1897 How to Tell a Story and Other Essays1897 Following the Equator1900 The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg1900 English as She Is Taught1901 To the Person Sitting in Darkness1902 A Double Barrelled Detective Story1903 My Debut as a Literary Person with Other Essays and Stories1903 A Dog's Tale1904 Extracts from Adam's Diary Translated from the Original MS.1905 King Leopold's Soliloquy1906 What is Man?1906 Eve's Diary1906 The $30,000 Bequest1907 Christian Science with Notes Containing Corrections to Date1907 A Horse's Tale1909 Is Shakespeare Dead?1909 Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven1909 Queen Victoria's Jubilee • MARK TWAIN'S PUBLISHING CAREER -released during his lifetime: • 1867 The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Sketches1869 The Innocents Abroad or The New Pilgrim's Progress1871 Mark Twain's (Burlesque) Autobiography and First Romance1872 Roughing It1873 The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today - co-authored with Charles Dudley Warner1875 Mark Twain's Sketches, New and Old1876 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer1876 Ah Sin, a play written with Bret Harte1877 A True Story, and the Recent Carnival of Crime.1878 Punch, Brothers, Punch!1880 A Tramp Abroad1880 1601, or Conversation as It Was by the Social Fireside in the Time of the Tudors1882 The Stolen White Elephant Etc.1882 The Prince and the Pauper: A Tale for Young People of All Ages1883 Life on the Mississippi1885 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (The word "the" is not part of the title.)1889 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court1892 Merry Tales

7. Hannibal Jane Clemens

8. Family Montage

9. Last years • 1896-daughter Susy dies of spinal meningitis • 1901-honorary doctorate from Yale University • 1904-Livy dies in Florence, Italy and Twain returns to New York City • 1909 daughter Jean dies on December 24 • April 21, 1910 Clemens dies

10. Twain’s commentary on his death (April 21, 1910) • “I came in with Halley’s comet in 1835. It is coming again next year, and I expect to go out with it. It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don’t go out with Halley’s comet. The Almighty said, no doubt: ‘Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together.’”—Mark Twain, quoted in Mark Twain: A Biography by Albert Bigelow Paine, 1910 Photo of Halley’s comet just days after the death of Samuel Clemens

11. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn • It is “The Adventures” but the word “the” was left off of the title by Twain. • It is probably his most famous and controversial novel. • read around the world by students in high schools and colleges.

12. Themes to consider • Conflict between society and “natural life” • Honor/Truth/Honesty • Mockery of Religion • Superstition • Slavery • The Mississippi River • Family • Foolishness and Folly • Youth/Coming of age

13. Symbols • As you read, look for possible symbols in the novel. • Consider— • The raft • The fog • The Mississippi River • Money • The land Map of Mississippi

14. Huckleberry Finn • As you read, think of why this book has endured so through the years. • What is there about the novel that resonates with people through the years?

15. Terms to know: • Realism= Writing about ordinary life. Realists sought to explain why ordinary people behave the way they do. • Regionalism(see text pg 619) = A literary focus on what characterizes a geographical area and its people. • Vernacular(see text pg 619)= The language spoken by the people in a particular locality. • Local color = specific features – including characters, dialects, customs, history, and landscape – of a particular region. (Sometimes this term is used interchangeably with “regionalism”)