Mark Twain's Two Ways Of Viewing A River

The first half of Life on the Mississippi was ideally written and reading the extremely detailed and captivating account of Twain's apprenticeship was quite enjoyable. However, the second part of the book was not as fascinating. The short stories were frequently only two pages long and were not very well connected to be a clear read. Though a few of the characters Twain met on his journey were quite interesting, the majority of them merely served as an example of a certain characteristic which he wished to further discuss. This may be due to the fact that Twain was much older by the time he made the trip in the second half of the book, and he had grown aware of the various faults of humanity and thus wrote more analytically and critically than he did in the first half to reflect his change in character and the change of the times he lived in.

John M. Barry, author of Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America, communicates his fascination with the Mississippi River by using diction, imagery, and syntax. Barry’s word choice conveys the mechanical force of the river; his use of imagery the beauty, and his use of syntax the unpredictability. Barry’s command of rhetorical devices draws the reader in and brings the Mississippi River to life.

81). However, this reverent tone shifts as he mentions that he soon began to “...cease from noting the glories and charms which the moon and the sun and the twilight wrought upon the river’s face” (Fader/Rabinowitz pg. 81). The previously appreciative essay morphs by the third paragraph with the first sentence being “No, the romance and beauty were all gone from the river” (Fader/Rabinowitz pg. 81) Twain has clearly grown up, allowing his view of his environment to become sullied. The wonder of the world has been dulled with all of his experiences piling on top of one another. His attitude towards the river and everything he used to associate with it changed for a more pessimistic

Huckleberry Finn is also lifted into great literary status by Twain’s compelling use of symbolism. An example of this symbolism is the Mississippi River. Throughout the novel, the river symbolizes life’s journey and, eventually, Huck’s natural integrity. It represents a place of ease and safety for both Huck and Jim. There is a major difference between their life on the river and their life on the land. On the river, life for Huck is peaceful and easy yet not without its dangers, whilst life on the land is most often cruel, demanding, and deceitful. Another example is how life on the raft is a paradox because, even

The River by Gary Paulsen is a Realistic Fiction novel. The River has 133 pages. According to a customer review on Amazon, “I loved how Brian returned just to save people's lives.” I think the intended audience is for 3rd grade and up because there are some terms and words that young children won’t understand.

Furthermore, the novel illustrates the unrestricted freedom the river provides through the connection with nature, independence from slavery, and the pair’s relationship. After escaping the clutches of the restrictive lifestyle of Miss Watson and the violent relationship with his father, Huck seeks refuge in the waters surrounding himself with nature, considering it as his home as he proclaims, “...there warn’t no home like the raft…Other places feel so cramped and smothery, but a raft don't. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft” (Twain 117). As Jim escapes from civilization towards life on the raft where open friendship and freedom that the river provides overcome prejudice against racism and slavery, he grows as an individual as he declares risking his life and freedom for Huck, “my heart wuz mos’' broke bekase you wuz los’, en I didn' k'yer no mo'

Two Ways of Seeing a Relationship Most people are blinded by flaws, at the very beginning at least. At first, everything is new and exciting, but when imperfections of the couple become annoying in life everything takes a turn for the worse. Mark Twain understands this behavior and recognizes that there are two ways of seeing things for what they truly are. In his essay,”Two Ways of Viewing a River”, he describes how beautiful the river was before he became a pilot and eventually sees the horrors that lay hidden in the water. In a relationship, it is known that the beginning is the most euphoric and is often referred to the honeymoon stage. After the bliss is gone and the flaws start to show, overtime the couple may realize that the relationship is not worth salvaging. The stages in a relationship can be compared to the magnificent river in the essay by the thrill of a new lover, the contentment of love, and the realization that sometimes it is not meant to last.

Life on the river for Huck and Jim is very peaceful. Jim built a snug wigwam to keep their belongings dry, they could just lay looking up at the sky, and they good weather. Huck says, “We catched fish and talked, and we took a swim now and then to keep off sleepiness” (Twain, 64). The river provided Huck and Jim many things, not only food, but also a way to escape. For Huck, the river provided him an escape from his life with his father and the Widow. For Jim, the river provided an escape from being a slave. On the river they were both free from their past lives. Mark Twain, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, shows us how nature can offer an escape from society’s restrictions and evils. Even though nature has changed immensely since this book was written, it still provides an escape from society. In today’s world, nature can be utilized as a thinking place or as a place to recover from pain. There are many more themes that we can see in today’s society. Several themes of Huck Finn are still relevant today, including “Nature offers an escape from society’s restrictions and evils,” “People tend to act cruelly or irrationally in groups,” and “Discrimination causes pain and suffering for many people”.

Twain's understanding of the river was not very strong at first. He understand change of perspective of the river throughout his journey. At first Twain’s view of the river was beautiful and alluring but as time went by he started seeing it was boring and old. In the first paragraph of the story, the author uses an analogy to show how he felt about the river. “And it was a book to be read once and thrown aside for it had a new story to tell everyday.” This analogy shows Twain’s point of view on the river at this time. The Mississippi River in his eyes at this time is positive, and he enjoys the time he gets to spend on the river while doing his job. As Mark Twain’s time on the river he changes how he views it from being negative to

The metaphor is solidified by recurrent parallels drawn between the river and the way in which people read books; just as a book offers more than just narration to the perceptive mind, the river caters more to those versed in the art of reading it. However, this metaphor dissipates with the revelation that the protagonist’s intimacy with the river had abated his ability to appreciate it as he had before. He claims that the naïve awe with which he regarded the river was eroded and replaced with habituation. Twain cleverly switches to an elaborate description in flashback to accentuate the importance of what he had compromised in his pursuit to understand the river. A sentence occupying a majority of the second paragraph is dedicated to his perception of the river before he made “the valuable acquisition” of learning it entirely. The protagonist then narrates how his relationship with the river has become mechanical and quotidian, lacking the charm he

He explains that the bubbling in the river he had previously described as opal-like was actually caused by the shifting of sands under the water. He also reveals a dangerous side to the beauty, “ the lines and circles in the slick water over yonder are a warning that the troublesome place is shoaling up dangerously.” Twain included this in order to explain the pros and cons of learning nature's secrets. Because he was able to recall the meaning of the lines he did not ram his boat into shallow water, although it was at the expense of the childlike wonder present in the first

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, uses various concrete objects, such as rivers, to symbolize a diverse range of feelings, emotions, and even actions. The ultimate symbol in the novel is the Mississippi River. Rivers often

Thus, Twain’s early experiences in life helped him to flesh out a well-rounded vocabulary and sparked his interests in adventure and traveling. Twain spent his boyhood in the riverside town of Hannibal, Missouri where he, “experienced the excitement of the colorful steamboats that docked at the town wharf, bringing comedians, singers, gamblers, swindlers, slave dealers, and assorted other river travelers” (Gribben). His exposure to much of the world at a young age opened his eyes to people groups, travel, and differences in dialect that would all become subject matter of his later writing. Twain wrote in Life on the Mississippi that he became acquainted with all the “different types of human nature that are to be found in fiction, biography, or history” while he worked as a steamboat apprentice (128). The diverse people and places he met during his time on the river all became awe-inspiring to him and served as the foundation for his works to come. Countless

"All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure" (Twain). This quote is from Mark Twain. He is a very famous author who has written such classics as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Mark Twain’s real name is Samuel Clemens, and was known to have experienced different many things in his lifetime. He has worked as a miner, printer, river pilot, and more (www.cmgww.com). This tells us that he must have known many things, and possibly how he came up with this quote.

Vehicles are a part of a person’s everyday life these days. You see them everywhere, no matter if it’s a big city, or a little country town. People use cars to travel to all sorts of places, whether it is a school or work. We push our vehicles to the maximum so they seem to wear out really fast. It seems like every five to six years you have to purchase a new one. People have so many causes to by a new car these days but owning a car also comes with a lot of effects. New cars come with a lot of benefits like reliability and warranties. The biggest downfall with buying that brand-new car is the car payment and that expensive car insurance. A new car might look good, and you might get more attention, but you pay for that attention. You must ask yourself is the cost worth the award?