Samuel L. Clemens, more commonly known as Mark Twain was a very successful writer and entrepreneur.  While he wrote many great pieces of literature, his autobiography was not one of them.  When reading his autobiography, I would often re-read several paragraphs to make sure that I was sane.  There are quite a few instances where the facts do not line up, he contradicts himself.  His autobiography is disjointed in another way.  Twain often focused on the irrelevant things that most people do not care to read, and he ignored the critical facts that most readers thirst for.

One story from Mark Twain’s autobiography that especially stands out to the reader as disjointed, was the story of the land that his father bought.  Twain stated that his father purchased 75,000 acres of land.  Later, while he was talking about the same piece of land, he said that his father bought 100,000 acres.  He said that his father paid $400 for 100,000 acres of land.  That is obsurd, this would mean that his father paid $0.004 per acre.  I do not believe his father ever actually owned this land, but none the less Twain believed it.  This is not the only instance in the autobiography where the facts do not match.  It is as If Twain never reviewed his autobiography, after writing it.

What can I do now to make my autobiography less disjointed than Twain’s?  One thing I could do is take notes, good notes.  By taking good notes, I can be sure that the facts will line up.  Keeping notes now will become a huge advantage when the time comes for me to write my autobiography.  Another thing I could do, is make note of the important events that are truly relevant, and ignore the mumbo jumbo stories that are completely irrelevant.

Although it is disjointed, I have learned a lot Mark Twain’s autobiography.  This autobiography, has given the students of the English 1: autobiographies course of the Ron Paul Curriculumn a great learning tool.  I have learned that Twain’s autobiography is not a good model for my autobiography.