Mark Twain and his characters
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Growing up in the small town of Hannibal, Missouri, Samuel Clemens, more commonly known as Mark Twain, spent his childhood days running around with his friends and having adventures of his own. During this time he developed relationships with those whom, three decades later, evolved into his characters in the novels The Adventures of Tom sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.
Nearly all the characters in Tom and Huck's world can be traced back to real people who lived near the Clemens' family in Hannibal. For example, John Clemens, Samuel's father, became Justice of the Peace in Hannibal and held investigations and court sessions, just like judge Thatcher. Sam ed the court house in the books after his father's own court house. A named Laura Hawkins, who was three years younger than Samuel, lived across the street from the Clemens' with her family. Sam and Laura were longtime friends, and she was Sam's basis for the character of Becky Thatcher in Tom Sawyer. Also, both novels are set in the fictitious town of St. Petersburg, Missouri, which lies on the banks of the Mississippi River, just like Hannibal.
Samuel Clemens took a different approach with Tom Sawyer, for he was mainly ed after himself as a boy...