“I am not an American, I am the American” (Duncan and Ward). Quoting his friend Frank Fuller, Twain boldly declares himself the embodiment of American life, and in all honesty, he has the right to do so. Twain was born in 1835 to parents John and Jane Clemens in Halley's Comet, Florida, Missouri, and later moved to Hannibal. He would later die under the same comet 75 years later in 1910. He traveled along the American South and Midwest writing as he went, originally moving west with his brother Orion in 1861 hoping to get rich from the Nevada silver rush (Ramussen). . Twain's real name was Samuel Longhorne Clemens, but he took the name Mark Twain in reference to an action in his work as a steamboat captain, a job that would inspire several of his most famous books, including The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Because of his widely popular books told from the point of view of young children, he is often referred to as a "chronicler of childhood", meaning that he depicted adolescence in a way that appealed to the both children and adults, and who was almost a record holder for the imagination of the American child of his time. He was not like the cookie-cutter authors of his time who imitated the writing style of English writers and used his own style and flow of writing. Mark Twain catalyzed a change in American literature by finding his voice through his individuality and consequently encouraging other writers to follow suit. To begin with, Twain was a big proponent of a progressive movement long before the Progressive Era. Much of Twain's books were satirical and attacked the feudal society of the South and the racism still prevalent in his time twenty years after the Civil War. “...[Twain] was very progressive. He...... middle of paper...... freedom. Mark Twain was an individual beyond doubt and encouraged other writers to take steps to find their own movement and find their own style. Works CitedBailey, Thomas A., David M. Kennedy, and Lizabeth Cohen. The American competition. 12th ed.Np: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Print.Duncan, Dayton and Geoffrey C. Ward, brief. Mark Twain. Real. Ken Burns. PBS, 2001. The web. March 27, 2014. Ellison, Ralph. The Collected Essays of Ralph Ellison. Np: Modern Library, 2011. 613. Web. March 27. 2014. Gribben, Alan. “Mark Twain.” The American novel. PBS and Web. March 16, 2014.Greenblatt, Alan. “Why Mark Twain Still Matters.” National Public Radio. NPR, April 21, 2010.Web. March 13, 2014.Railton, Stephen. Mark Twain in his time. University of Virginia, nd Web. March 13, 2014. Ramussen, R. Kent. Mark Twain from A to Z. New York: Facts On File, Inc, 1995. x-xivv. Print.