Two Ways of Seeing a River

The first description Mark Twain gives of the river is a better description to me because it describes and gives the readers a vibrant outlook on the river as if it was this beautiful sight that everyone must see. I am more of the “look at the beauty in something” rather than point out its faults, so this description tells me about the many colors the river gives off. Prime example, the “opal tinted, tumbling rings..sparkling upon the water” and also the dulcet aura the river gives off when Twain goes from one end of the river to the beach then two the trees. The way he describes it also helps me paint a mental picture and the smooth transition of how he describes it makes it seem like there was one paint stroke to connect all the details of the river.

Depending on the audience, my answer would change because then it deals with how someone individually looks at something; in this particular case, the Mississippi River. If I wanted the “grimy and sinister” details of the river then I would side with the second description. For example, the “bluff reef that is going to kill somebody’s steamboat” gives the danger and sinister details of the river. But the overall message is how someone interprets something. It can be in a beautiful way, which I like to view things and why I sided with the first description, or it could be in a negative or darker details of something.

Reading over Twain’s reflection, I can take how he has two sides to one thing he is looking at. He didn’t just look at the river as just a river but instead as a whole landscape itself, pointing out the details that could make it a beautiful site to visit or as a warning and a watch-out to those who travel down the river in the steamboats. So when taking notes and observing, I could look at the downfalls of the place I’m looking at to give more detail and not make the place seem only as if it has a good, happy-felt side but as if it has multiple personalities.

in "Two Ways of Seeing a River", Mark...