Samuel Clemens (1835-1910), also known as Mark Twain, was of course the product of many influences, some of the most important of which were women. Throughout his career, women provided him with emotional, moral, and literary guidance. I thought it would be fun to take a look at some of the women in Clemens's life and see how their influence manifested itself in his works, mainly by looking at the fictional female characters and their roles in romance and reform. In presenting each of the figures, I have singled out relevant information that will easily enable you to find similarities between the various figures and draw your own conclusions about their influences. Within the dynamic web of relationships, you can begin to find some very intriguing and justifiable correlations. You can either start with the real women or jump into the fictional ones.