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The story “Two Ways Of Seeing A river” is a personal and creative essay. It was published in 1883 in Mississippi, by Mark Twain. Mark Twain explains how something so beautiful can turn ugly after seeing it numerous times. Not only is it ugly because of seeing iy numerous of times it is the way he sees the river from a different perspective and a different knowledge. Mark Twain first sees the river as a beautiful place to relax in, he desribes the river to be majestic.
Mark Twain would love to admire the beautiful sunset and steamboat. Mark Twain would first go to the river just to visit for his enjoyment and to relax. Later on Mark Twain starts to actually work on the steamboat and suddenly his view on the river changes because he has more knowledge and expierence on the river. Mark Twain notices how dangerous the steamboar actually is and how it can kill his passengers. Mark Twain views on once what he had on the river which was romance and beauty was now all gone.
Mark Twain helps us by informing us to never see something from only one point of view.
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Everything has to sides to it. A coin has two sides to it, A story has two sides to it, and the river has two sides to it too. For one the river can be the source of life, may hold beautiful colors, have breath taking scenaries and holds beauty within everyinch of it, but on the other hand the river can lead to a life diaseter by being dangerous and posseing the power to kill passengers on the steam boat.
Mark Twain tells us to pick up the facts before analuzonf anything so then you can gain some knowledge in what you are analuzing. For example a doctor may not be able to see the beauty in a human being because he got so use to his job he is only use to seeing their illness or disease. Mark Twain states “ you lose and you gain but in gaining all this technical knowledge you may lose the perpective of what is the essence.” Mark Twain means by this is how knowledge can overcome beauty.
In, Two Ways of Seeing A River, the author, Mark Twain, described his idea of the Mississippi river from two angles or two perspectives and used comparison and contrast to illustrate his points. He first began by using a metaphor in his opening words. He compared to Mississippi river to a language which he had already mastered.
However, he said that upon his mastery of the river, he lost something which is his admiration for it when he saw it the last time. Twain described how majestic and how wonderful it was when he first saw the river on a steamboat. He vividly illustrated in the story tiny details like the color of the river during the sunset and the ripples in the water, among others. But when he returned a second time, everything marveled about the river was gone.
Basically, Twain’s comments on the river on the third paragraph were almost the opposite of his comments on the second. It can be then deduced that the author used a block pattern of comparison in his story because he first described his beautiful experiences upon seeing the river the first time before describing his less lively experience on the second time.
Moreover, Twain’s differing comments on the river basically says that things such as experiences become less exciting or even less fulfilling the second time around. In other words, a man who has already experienced something simply passes by it the next time. In the case of the author in the story, he simply read and observed the Mississippi river rather than marvel at it because he has already seen it before.
In “Two Ways of Seeing a River,” author Mark Twain uses a blocked structured comparative analysis of the river to describe how he feels about the river, or “sees” it now that he has “learned” it and there is less beautiful mystery associated with it. Twain develops each paragraph to using metaphor, “A broad expanse of the river was turned to blood” (par. 1), simile, “ a long , ruffled trail that shone like silver” (par. 1) , and personification, “There were graceful curves” (par. 1) to describe vividly how he sees the river before and after his mastering of the water.
After Twain masters the river, he follows his previously established pattern in paragraph one to develop in order the contrasts of the river now that it is no longer a mystery. He describes the same river with more somber, less colorful language, “This sun means we that we are going to have wind tomorrow” (par. 2). What Twain is really comparing is his romantic, uneducated view of the river to his more rational, understood knowledge on how to navigate and survive on the water.
Work Cited
Twain, Mark. “Two Ways of Seeing a River”
“Two Ways Of Seeing A river” by Mark Twain. (2016, May 13). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/two-ways-of-seeing-a-river-by-mark-twain-essay
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