Samuel Clemens better known by the pen name Mark Twain speaks best about the American experience through is distinctive literary voice, and through his classic writing skills. His familiarity with local culture and use of local dialect, and his life experiences in the heart of America helped make his writings be American and helped create the American experience. Twain’s humorous writing quality, accomplished by over exaggeration, brought him to be one of the finest American fiction writers of his era. Regional language and slang were just a few of his techniques used in capturing the local color of the United States, and they helped win his way into the hearts of thousands of people.
Hailing from a river town called Hannibal, Twain was no stranger to the ways of the country and river. Quite often his narratives were based on his own experiences in this setting. The use of a regional dialect like in “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” was more enjoyable for the public to read and was also more towards their standards of reading.
Twain’s stories gave smiles to thousands of depressed people. Humor in his stories was used partly because it was his way of writing but also because during those times America was going through great suffering and was in need of relief from the civil war. People found relief in Twain’s stories. Through humor in his writings, Twain eased the pains of America and also made himself a popular literary figure of the time.
Twain’s famous story “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” is about a man in Calveras County who was known for betting, and losing. He even raised animals with which he could bet and one such animal was his jumping frog. The narrative is told from the man’s friend’s point of view, Simon Wheeler. Wheeler tells us all about Jim Smiley’s past antics and other, possibly false, stories about him. This story many people found interesting because of the dimness of the text. In this story, Twain perfectly captures the local dialect and traditions of the people in the west in his era and his writing makes fun of small town people.
Twain loved to know about people. He traveled through out America experiencing much of the country, the life and the people, and writing things down as he went along. He used his experiences as the basis for his writings and since they were based on truth, spoke of America, and included humor, were a great success and still stand as American classics today.
Twain wrote about what it was to be an American. Apple pie, baseball, cornfields for miles, all American icons, were included in his writings. He spoke of what it was like for a child in this country, skipping school, down by the river, images familiar to everyone, especially to Americans. He talked about their relationships their hardships dealing with life, and all the time in his distinctive literary form that we have come to love.
Twain’s success in writing came due to the fact that he wrote of the truths and tribulations of a country, using humor and narration, to captivate audiences, and those stories are the ideal image of what it is to be an American.