Mark Twain, originally born as Samuel Langhorne Clemens, was the sixth child in a family of eight. Born to John and Jane Clemens on November 30, 1835, Twain was born in small town Florida, Missouri. At the age of four, Mark Twain and his family moved to Hannibal in the hope of drastically improving their living conditions. He later died of heart disease in Redding, Connecticut, on April 21, 1910. By lineage, Twain was of Southern descent, as both his parents' birthplaces were those of Virginia. Slavery in the small community of Hannibal, which then had a population of only 2,000, offered a variety of rugged lifestyles mixed with southern tradition. Along with a previously mentioned lifestyle, these played a major role in his major writings, notably The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. During his youth, Twain was a very troublesome boy; Growing up with poor health early in life, Twain had led a gang of young pranksters, learned to smoke, and was very opposed to school. His formal schooling was later cut short at the age of 12 when his father died....