Read Mark Twain's "Two Ways of Seeing a River." What Claim Does Twain Make in This Persuasive Essay?

Mark Twain's "Two Ways of Seeing a River" delves into the changes in attitude he experiences apropos the river subsequently becoming a steamboat airplane pilot. Essentially, once he gains knowledge and life experiences, he begins to take the beauty of the river for granted and loses his beloved of it.

Marker Twain explains how something beautiful tin can turn bland or fifty-fifty ugly later seeing information technology numerous times, from a different perspective, or after gaining new cognition and experiences.

The structure of this excerpt is divided into three principal ideas: Mark Twain'due south initial honey of the river, his gradual decline in attention for it, and finally, an inquisition if losing sight of beauty to proceeds something else is worth information technology. The start paragraph consists of mainly bright imagery of the Mississippi River that Mark Twain describes.

Twain, with this paragraph, is conveying the fact that a cognition of the inner-workings of a river and what the features of a river point practise not heighten the feel of information technology. In fact, getting to know something too well tin can brand one lose attraction to it, and this is what happened to Twain.

In the first sentence, when he says, "…I had mastered the linguistic communication of this water," he means that he was well-trained every bit a steamboat pilot. He describes this acquisition as valuable; however, he too blames it as the cause for him to lose "all the grace, all the beauty" from the river. In the 2nd paragraph, Twain describes the gradual decline in attraction and attention to the river and its surroundings.

He notices things not so he can marvel at them, but to apply them, such as when he takes the paradigm of a dusk and notes that information technology ways "we are going to have current of air tomorrow". Twain then brings all the bright details of the river from the first paragraph and introduces them once more into the second, only this time, he describes how they indicate something other than dazzler to him.

This shows that knowledge and experience did, indeed, cause Twain to disregard the awe and magnificence that he saw in the river before. It can be seen that distance creates dazzler, when in the first paragraph, "steamboating was new to me [Twain]," he was not acquitted with the workings of the river, and therefore he was more 'afar' from it, which created his attraction for information technology.

In fact, he is enlightened of this, considering in the 3rd paragraph, he "pitied doctors from my heart."

He rhetorically questions whether or not a doctor tin can see the departure in the beauty of a flush of a woman's cheeks and a disease. The main question he asks is whether or not gaining knowledge and experience of something worth is losing that initial perspective. More or less, Mark Twain is addressing himself and possibly making the world aware of the merits of what they are trying to achieve.

In that location are numerous ways Mark Twain uses literary devices to create a sense of momentum and emphasize certain phrases. For example, in the first paragraph, he repeats the phrase, "I had lost something," which emphasizes the significance of what he lost, in this case, the ability to find the dazzler of the river. Already, this creates a sonorous mood, and the repetition creates suspense and a demand to know what Twain lost.

When he describes the beauty of the river and its surround, it is all in one sentence, which besides shows the immeasurable amount of dear he had for information technology that he could not take breaks when describing it. When reading it, there are besides no pauses, and the continuous imagery constructs brilliant images in readers' minds which creates a suspenseful mood, and it feels equally if they are likewise experiencing information technology forth with Twain. This allows for a more relatable and personal effect on readers, and they can connect ideas in the text to their ain life, which Twain seemingly wants to do in the last paragraph.

In the second paragraph, at that place are similar literary devices used. For case, there is another repetition like the last, where Twain repeats, "A day came when I began to cease," to, "some other day came when I ceased altogether to note them," which creates the suspenseful effect on the extremity of what he lost, as done in the offset paragraph with the repetition of, "I had lost something."

The repetition in the second paragraph is in the same sentence, and it creates the tone of remorse and regret. When Twain finally describes everything he has lost, he brings in the same details equally in the commencement paragraph, but this time, he expresses what the details really mean in reality, and disregards what they meant to him, and it can exist seen that cognition of something is blinding to the dazzler of it.

Again, information technology is all said in the same sentence, merely information technology does not have the same upshot as last time. Instead, information technology creates an anticlimactic atmosphere, and at that place is a reinterpretation of the initial understandings of the river, how the dazzler of it is non reality, but subjective based on the observer.

At the beginning of the paragraph, Twain describes how the world of the river was "new to me [Twain]," and how much he "drank it in," but at the terminate of the paragraph, Twain is familiarized with the river and so much so that he merely sees the surface of it and non the "poetry of the majestic river." This parallel construction creates irony because information technology goes against readers' expectations, signifying what Twain has lost.

In the last paragraph, Twain provides interrogative sentences that invite readers to consider doubtfulness or judgment on their ain actions. Twain is referencing doctors in the paragraph; however, in reality, he is addressing himself and the world. One matter to note is that Twain always brings ideas from the last paragraph into the showtime of every new paragraph.

This juxtaposition enhances his point from the last paragraph and contrasts information technology with what he is going to say next. In the second paragraph, he contrasts his love of the river with the reality of information technology. In the tertiary paragraph, he contrasts the loss of the "romance and the dazzler" of the river with the question if it is worth losing that perspective for something else, such every bit knowledge.

He is trying to make sense of the significance of gaining experience if, in the end, it takes away the perception of dazzler and dear, and if one "has gained nigh or lost virtually by learning his merchandise."

Overall, in "Two Ways of Seeing a River", Mark Twain addresses the importance of understanding the extent of the merits of what people accept. He questions whether feel and cognition are more than rewarding than the brilliant perception of things and the ability to see pregnant across their surface.

Twain emphasizes how he went from a state of mesmerisation to nonchalance in regards to the Mississippi River, all because of his acquisition of feel and knowledge every bit a steamboat pilot, which he views equally valuable but not worth the loss of his romantic and poetic perception of the river.

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