Term Papers on Life On The Mississippi

Term Paper Title	Life On The Mississippi
# of Words	671
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	2.68

Life on the Mississippi

Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain chronicles his life on the Mississippi River.  In this unique autobiography, Twain tells of his boyhood ambitions, his adventures learning to pilot steamboats as a cub pilot, and of his last voyage on the Mississippi, with many of his personal anecdotes that he collects. Changes in the use of the steamboat are often told through this novel.

     This novel begins in Hannibal, Missouri, Twain’s hometown. A majority of this story, though, occurs on steamboats in the Mississippi. He writes in a time period from his childhood in the 1830s to his last voyage in 1876. Twain narrates the story with himself being the main character, but with most attention on the river and the steamboat.


Life on the Mississippi begins with Twain giving facts about the river, and then telling about his childhood ambitions to become a pilot. He tells of his cub piloting and his teachings from various pilots. He then gets his piloting license, but goes on to become a printer, a reporter, a half-hearted Confederate soldier, and many more things. After these adventures he decides to take one last trip on the Mississippi and charters a steamboat. On the river he finds the whereabouts of old friends, discovers that towns that had stood before were swallowed by the river, and hears many of the old stories of the Mississippi. He notes the change of towns, scenery, the steamboat, and the river itself.


The rise and decline of the steamboat are told of throughout the book. During Twain’s childhood, he remembers the prime of the steamboat and the excitement that a passing boat had on his small town. “Presently a film of dark smoke appears above one of those ‘remote points’; instantly, a negro drayman, famous for his quick eye and prodigious voice, lifts up the cry, ‘S-t-e-a-m-b-o-a-t a-comin!’ and the scene changes! The town drunkard stirs, the clerks wake up, a ...

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