Samuel Langhorne Clemens once proclaimed, "The two most important days of your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why." This quote shows the difficulty in finding the correct identity that Clemens envisioned for himself. Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, struggled with this identity crisis for most of his young adult life. A ferry pilot, a soldier, a miner, and a journalist are just a few of the multiple career paths Clemens has unsuccessfully taken in search of his true identity. Fortunately, he eventually became a writer and wrote some of the world's greatest literary works. One of these great works, The Prince and the Pauper, is remembered for its unique style, which is an infusion of Clemens's life experiences and historical research, presented in a children's novel. Samuel Langhorne Clemens was inspired to write The Prince and the Pauper by his childhood in the town of Hannibal, Missouri, the loss of his father, and his adventures across America during the Civil War era. To begin a discussion about the infusion of life experiences In a novel, it is very important to start at the beginning, from childhood. Samuel Langhorne Clemens grew up in the poor, dusty town of Hannibal, Missouri. At the age of twelve, Clemens suffered the loss of his father, which plunged his family into poverty (“The Prince” 173). While at an impressionable age, Clemens experienced the poverty of others and his own family. This leads to his sympathy towards the poor and impoverished. Furthermore, growing up in rural America led him to appreciate the vernacular and to have a distaste for the haughty and esoteric style of European literature. According to Leon T. Dickinson in Modern Language Notes, Clemens attempted to use a theory or...... half of the paper ......le, 2010. 196-198. Print.Domenico, Caterina. "Critical Essay on The Prince and the Pauper." Novels for students. Cengage Learning, 2010. Rpt. in Novels for Students. Ed. Sara Constantakis. vol. 31. Detroit: Gale, 2010. 189-192. Press. “Mark Twain.” Criticism of short stories. Ed. Tommaso Votteler. vol. 6. Detroit: Gale Research, 1990. 291-293. Press. “Mark Twain.” Literary criticism of the twentieth century. Ed. Sharon K. Sala. vol. 6. Detroit: Gale Research, 1982. 452-453. Press. "The Prince and the Pauper: Mark Twain." Novels for students. Ed. Sara Constantakis. vol. 31. Detroit: Gale, 2010. 172-174. Print.Smith, Bradford. "Mark Twain and the Mystery of Identity." University English. 24.6. 1963: 425-430. Rpt. in Novels for Students. Ed. Sara Constantakis. vol. 31. Detroit: Gale, 2010. 192-196. Print.Twain, Mark. The prince and the pauper. Public domain, 1911. EPUB file.