The Influences In Mark Twain's The Adventures Of Tom Sawyer

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Twain's Influences for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer American Art, a timed classic, a recapturing of childhood- these are just a few words that describe the book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. This book was written by Samuel L. Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. Mark Twain and his books to this day are still an influence on American literature. Among all of Mark Twain’s books, his most influential and popular book was, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. It is a story of a young boy named Tom and the adventures he encounters during his childhood in St. Petersburg, Missouri. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, as Mark Twain said, was primarily influenced by his childhood, which had many similar events that also took place in the book (Encyclopedia of…show more content…
The first implement Twain used in doing so was by incorporating his childhood friends into the story. Napierkowski and Stanley acknowledge, "Twain wrote in his autobiography how certain characters in his novel had been suggested by persons he had known in Hannibal" (Napierkowski and Stanley). For the book, Mark Twain had combined Tom with the experiences and adventures of himself and two of his childhood friends (Gerber). For example, Tom's relationship with Becky Thatcher in the story is most likely inspired by Mark Twain’s childhood relationship with Lauren Hawkins. His second influence in capturing the adventures of him and his friends as kids, was his remembrance of the many activities and exploits of him and his childhood friends. Napierkowski and Stanley go on to add, "Twain's childhood activities in Hannibal are often compared to those of Tom Sawyer in St. Petersburg" (Napierkowski and Stanley). They also point out, “Often for fun, Twain would build his own rafts and float upon the Mississippi river" (Napierkowski and Stanley). As a kid Twain would also play Pirates on the Mississippi river with his friends and pull pranks (Carlynn and

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