Analysis of Mark Twain's 'Two Ways of Seeing a River'

In the story of “ Two Ways Of Seeing A river” was 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 numerious of 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. 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.