1,Mark Twain,2,Before 1-2,(1835-1910),Most celebrated humorist in American history Representative Writer of American Realism A great literary artist and a great social critic in the history of the United States,Samuel Langhorne Clemens,3,Born in Florida, Missouri, on November 30, 1835. When he was four, Twains family moved to Hannibal. In 1847 the death of his father brought an end to his carefree days, and he had to go to work at the age of 12 as a printers apprentice. In 1851, he began working as a typesetter and contributor of articles and humorous sketches for a newspaper owned by his brother.,Life experience,4,From 1857 to 1861,Twain worked as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River. This occupation gave him his pen name, Mark Twain. On Mississippi riverboats, two fathoms, a depth indicating safe water for passage of boat, was measured on the sounding line. “Mark twain” was a call used by sailors.,Pictures from www.pbs.org,5,In 1863,he worked at a Virginia City newspaper. Here he first used his pen name. In 1864,Twain moved to San Francisco, still as a journalist. His first success as a writer came when his humorous tall tale, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, was published in 1865. It brought him national attention.,6,On February 2, 1870, Twain married Olivia Langdon, the only daughter of a wealthy New York businessman. .,Pictures from www.pbs.org,7,During his seventeen years in Hartford (18741891) and over twenty summers at Quarry Farm, Twain wrote many of his classic novels： The Innocents Abroad(1869) The Gilded Age(1873) Life on Mississippi(1883),8,Twains greatest fame and his importance in American literature rest largely on his two best known novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 汤姆索亚历险记 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 哈克费恩历险记 ,9,10,By 1900 Twain had become Americas foremost celebrity.,Pictures from www.pbs.org,11,the failure of his investments, his fatiguing travels and lectures in order to pay off his debts, the death of his wife and two daughters the darkening social life,the tragic events of his later life:,12,Mark Twain died of illness on April 21, 1910. When he passed away, newspapers around the country declared, “The whole world is mourning.”,13,Clemenss house in Hartford,14,Grave of Mark Twain Woodlawn Cemetery, Elmira, NY,15,Representative Writer of American Realism,Mark Twain dealt largely with the lower strata of society. He made colloquial speech an accepted, respectable literary medium in the literary history of the country. Its influence is clearly visible in 12th-century American literature. Mark Twain was a social critic as well. He loved freedom and justice, felt a pride in human dignity and advocated brotherhood of man. He hated despised meanness and cruelty.,16,The Celebrated Jumping Frog ofCalaveras County,Mark Twain,17,What shall we pay attention to when we read a story?,Background: (When+Where?) Character (Who) Plot (What) Theme (What) Style (How),18,BACKGROUND,Did You Know? In the remote mining camps and frontier towns of the 1800s, life was hard and entertainment was scarce. To create some fun and laughter, people invented tall talesstories containing such quirky, larger-than-life characters as Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyan. Such tales were often first passed by word of mouth, with each person adding a few details.,The Time and Place This story takes place in the early 1860s in a small mining town called Angels Camp, which still exists in Calaveras County, California. At Angels Camp, Twain first heard someone tell the story that he later developed into “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” ,Gold Rush,19,Gold Rush,This story is set in the gold rush. In 1848, in Califernia gold was discovered, a rapid movement of people to the newly discovered goldfield. The Esterners had a reputation for being civilized, cultured, and advanced; whereas the Westerners were considered to be less-educated, less-refined and easy to be deceived. California was a world of men, isolated, homesick, and eager for entertainment. Gambing was one of the easiest and most popular ways to amuse themselves.,20,Bizarre character,“I” (an educated easterner ) My friend Simon Wheeler Jim Smiley (a gambler ) The feller (a stranger) The mare (fifteen-minute nag) The bull-pup (Andrew Jacksonthe 7th president of the United States ) The frog (Daniel Webstera famous Senator and national figure during Twains life ),“I” (an educated easterner ) :the author and narrator of the story, as well as one of its characters. He is portrayed as the butt of a joke, the joke being haven to listen to the fantastic tales of a garrulous old man named Simon Wheeler.,Jim Smiley is the focus of Simon Wheelers tale. A resident of Calaveras Countys Angels Camp in either 1849 or 1850, Jim is primarily known for his love for betting and will bet on almost anything no matter how ridiculous,an elderly resident of the Western mining operation known as Angels Camp.