Traveling on the Mississippi can be viewed in many ways. Our perspective on anything can change at a moments notice based on new facts or reasoning. In Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi his viewpoint changes as he learns the river, and becomes more acquainted with it.
In the passage Twain sees the river as a majestic being, and he describes its beauty with descriptive language. “Throughout the long twelve hundred miles there was never a page that was void of interest, never one that you could leave unread without loss…” stated Twain (P1). Since he has just started as a steamboat pilot, the river is new to him, and he is seeing everything for the first time and taking in every new experience as he travels along the river. “The passenger who could not read it was charmed with a peculiar sort of faint dimple on its surface; but to the pilot that was the italicized passage; indeed it was more than that, it was a legend of the largest capitals…” said Twain (P1). As Mark began to learn more about the, river he
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His viewpoint changes from a naive beginner to and experienced professional because he has learned more about the river and how to read each sign. “All the grace, beauty, the poetry, had gone out of the majestic river!”Exclaimed Twain (P2). Mark Twain has been on the river so much he has grown used to the sights that others find spectacular. Furthermore, he is able to differentiate certain details of the river that tell him what lies ahead. “No, the romance and beauty we’re all gone from the river. All the value any feature of it had for me now was the amount of usefulness it could furnish toward compassing the safe piloting of a steamboat.”said Twain (P4). No longer does he see the beauty that he first saw when starting out as a steamboat pilot he just sees what will help him navigate the river, and do his