Keondria McCollums
Mrs. Hogan
English-11
21 March 2012 Samuel Clemens Thomas Nast known as The Father of American Caricature influenced the world with his humorous way to address serious situations. Known for his famous campaign against New York City’s political boss William Maegear Tweed, he devised the Tammany tiger, popularized the donkey as the symbol for the Democratic party, and popularized the elephant for the Republican party. He also crated the “modern” image of Santa Claus. He was even known to have re-elected Lincoln in 1864, and Lincoln himself commented that Nast was his best recruiting sergeant. Likewise, many people are influenced by comedy, more than any other type of style. With great fame, Mark Twain, much like Thomas Nast, portrayed a comedic writing style to draw in the attention of his audience. Influenced by himself, and many areas of his life, such as his home, jobs, and experiences, Mark Twain greatly impacted American literature with his humorous commentaries on reality. Twains early life transformed him into the man we know today, was born November 30, 1835, in the small town of Florida, Missouri. He was the sixth child of John and Jane Lampton Clemens, who originally named him Samuel Langhorne Clemens .When Samuel was only three, his parents' seventh and last child was born, a son named Henry. A year after that, the family moved to Hannibal, Missouri. In 1847, Twains father died when he was only 12(Twain 12). By this time, there were only four children of seven left in the Clemens’ household. As soon as they were old enough, the Clemens children had to work. By the age of sixteen, Twain had left school for a job as an apprentice to a printer in Hannibal. Over time he traveled back and forth as a freelance printer. Even though printing was his main job the river, however, was always in his heart(Twain 36). As said by Twain,