How does Mark Twain's biographical information (birth, family and social position, main gifts or handicaps, education, entry into writing, the specific circumstances that left Mark Twain to write "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer") help to explain why he wrote this novel
The story is set in the town of "St Petersburg", inspired by Hannibal, Missouri, where Mark Twain grew up. In the story's introduction, Twain notes:
"Most of the adventures recorded in this book really occurred; one or two were experiences of my own, the rest of those boys were schoolmates of mine. Huck Finn is drawn from life; Tom Sawyer also, but not from an individual—he is a combination of the characteristics of three boys whom I knew, and therefore belongs to the composite order of architecture."[2]
This is taken right from this site. I shall provide the source link below. Authors usually write about what they know. Twain was from the south; stories of this period in time is what he knew. I encourage you to follow the link below for more detail.
http://www.gradesaver.com/the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer/wikipedia/introduction/
