The great author’s formal education was limited

John Marshall Clemens, a self-taught lawyer and judge of the peace in Hannibal, Missouri, was the father of Mark Twain and is said to have influenced him in this way. John Marshall Clemens was a strong proponent of self-education. Unfortunately, Twain's father passed away while the future author was just 11 years old, severely straining the family's finances. Young Samuel Clemens began working as an apprentice printer at a newspaper in 1848, barely one year after the passing of his father. He persisted in continuing his schooling, though, and a few years later he had already contributed a few humorous pieces for the newspaper after switching to a typesetting position at a local daily run by his older brother, Orion, in 1851.

Clemens, at 17 years old, left Hannibal in 1853, and for the next few years, he lived and worked as a printer in cities including New York City, Philadelphia, and Keokuk, Iowa. When he was younger, Mark Twain was enthusiastic about reading and spending time in libraries to learn more about the world. He was able to view things differently as a result of this. He appreciated education and believed it to be an essential component of a person's development. At the time, Twain was critical of the American educational system. He thought that education and learning were two distinct concepts. This intense curiosity in everything around him persisted throughout his life, whether he was working as a miner or a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi.