from "Two Views of the River" - Mark Twain

from "Two Views of the River" is a great showing of how some one begins to lose their romantic side and just sees them professionally like a doctor. Through out this excerpt we have, the great Mark Twain tells us of how he all of a sudden that he could never restore. He tells of all of these beautiful things he sees on the river and what things in nature meant. Then he tells us of how he began losing sight of them and began to take no notice to these things around him. He then says, "the romance and the beauty were 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. Since those days, I have pitied doctors from my heart. What does the lovely flush in a beauty's cheek mean to a doctor but a "break" that ripples above some deadly disease? Are not all her visible charms sown thick with what are to him the signs and symbols of hidden decay? Does he ever see her beauty at all, or doesn't he simply view her professionally, and comment upon her unwholesome condition all to himself? And doesn't he sometimes wonder whether he has gained most or lost most by learning his trade" (Twain 505). This story is kind of depressing to read. But Mark Twain is just kind of journaling about his job. He takes over his dream of becoming a riverboat pilot and gets to be on the river all day long. But soon this river becomes from a thing of beauty to just his job. He is depicting his life as it exists, kind of sad. He then makes the comparison of him and the river to a doctor and his wife. This is a good comparison as Mark Twain loves the river as does the doctor, but Mark sees this river all day and it begins to lose its beauty. A doctor loves his wife, but he is a doctor and sees people everyday, including women. Then the question comes of whether one loses or gains more when learning a trade. This is a very sad question to Twain because I believe he has lost more and Twain realizes he has lost a big part of his dream. It is a sad realization, but it depicts his life as it exists (Werlock).

This also fits into the subset of regionalism because it applies directly to one part of the country; the Mississippi River. In regionalism, "the primary focus of interest lies in the particular characteristics of a region and people at a particular time" (Kasraie). The focus of this is the characteristics of the Mississippi River, everything around it, and one man who loses the beauty of everything around it.

from "Two Views of the River" has a large part of nature within it. It talks of the beautiful nature of and around the river. The sunset, the animals, the moon. It is just very focused on nature for a large portion of it. It is what Twain notices is around him; it seems to be for the first time also. He just writes of the beauty and how it disappears. He is depicting his life as it exists; not as he wants it to be.



Kasraie, Mary Rose. "local color." In Barney, Brett, and Lisa Paddock, eds. Encyclopedia of American Literature: The Age of Romanticism and Realism, 1816–1895, vol. 2, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 13, 2011.


Twain, Mark. "from Two Views of the River." Glencoe Literature. Comp. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Columbus; McGraw-Hill, 2010. 504-505. Print.


Werlock, Abby H. P. "realism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 13, 2011.