Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain Book Analysis

Life can change people for the better or worse. “Life on the Mississippi” by Mark Twain is a  memoir on Twain's experience as a steamboat pilot in 1883 and how his perspective changes. Twain describes his experiences on the Mississippi River and how these experiences change his viewpoint of the river from a piece of art to a useful tool. 

Mark Twain uses vivid figurative language to describe the river and his experience on the river. Twain beggins to describe the river as a wonderful book that is not thrown aside. “There never was so wonderful a book written by man” (Twain 1) Mark Twain was trying to show that the river could never compare to any man made literature. Twain then starts to show how the passengers only saw the surface of the water and not the depth of it. In reality he saw things that they didn't see: wrecked ships and rocks below the surface; it was only a rock or glimmer to them. “The passenger who could not read it was charmed with a peculiar sort of faint dimple on its surface” (pg.1) “I have pitted doctors from my heart” (pg.4) Twain just felt this sympathy towards people who work in the medical field since they have practiced and performed these procedures countless times and it then became a useful tool to them.

These experiences change his view point. Twain then starts to describe how he lost his childlike magic when he looked at the river; it was not the same as when he started out as a steamboat pilot; it was just a job. (Pg.2) Twain then starts to show how his perspective on the river and how it changed; he did not see the passion and glory and beauty he once saw as a steamboat pilot; he lost a part of himself that he could never gain back. “When I had began to cease from nothing the glories and charms which the moon and then sun and twilight wrought upon the rivers face; another day came when I cease altogether to note them. (Twain 3)  Then Twain describes the once passion he had for the river and that he could never gain that passion that he once had for the river. It was just a job not adventurous and thrill seeking as it once was to him.

We can either become the thing we love or the thing we hate. Twain once had this immense passion for steamboating; he was blissful about his job at first. As the story progresses Twain's perspective changes to regret and pessimism that he could not escape. Change can be hard but good if we learn to accept it.