Two views of a river:

Compare and contrast paper

Jessica Arthur
Comp109

For two weeks, you work yourself to the limit at a nine-to-five

job. You come home to a comfortable home with all the necessities,
and some amenities, including a loving family. You fall to sleep
easily knowing you are loved and at least you have the necessities of
life. One day however, you decide that there is something horribly
wrong with this situation and it has been going on right under your
nose, in your own home! You have been eating the same dinner for
almost a whole month. You become very agitated with your spouse
and you are inconsolable.
Although, we as humans, do have a tendency to be
inconsiderate and, this may sound ridiculous to some, fatigue can
make people act very irrational in the eyes of others. It is very
possible, you do not like macaroni because you associate it with
your parents divorce, and it reminds you of lonely dinners at home
without a parent. Where as before, you loved that dish. Our minds
and emotions can change our thought patterns drastically. Still, we
do overlook and neglect what we have, for what we do not have.
What we may never attain, we want, making any other satisfaction
lackluster, and melancholic. Can we really believe the phrase

nobody understands how I feel? If we as a people stopped being so

self-involved, we would see that we all have similar views, of which,
the human race never grows weary. Twains main character speaking
in the excerpt Two Views of the River , is someone that the
modern-day citizen can empathize with because at some point we all
have our own river.
It is said, you never miss the water until the well runs dry.
Just as Twains main character, the regret for what we no longer
have and desire for what we do not possess is a feeling we all be
come familiar with at some point. The feeling is normal and possibly
an inborn trait. It is so easy for us to become dissatisfied, then what
will happen to us if we find something we truly love. We may begin
to affiliate all that is good and phantasmal in the world with this
beloved ambition. Then one-day if something horrible happens
involving this ambition, our feeling towards the ideal we had are
subject to drastic change, and we become extremely vulnerable.
The rose colored glasses are smashed and the suspicion, that
come with s biased wisdom, begins to take control over thoughts,
insights and feelings. Suspicion of the great joy that was once
brought, suspicion that the beauty we saw was nothing but a mask
to trap us and steal from us all we held dear. Even if it is only
temporary we all understand having the desire to give our lives to
something, there in lies a risk and excitement, one we must take on
their own accord, having no one else to blame.

The known and unknown, everything at some point in our

lives falls into these categories, including the many risks in
following a dream. One drives curiosity and the other breeds
boredom and contempt. In the Mark Twain excerpt Two Views of
the River, the main character deals with something we will all deal
with at some point, a change in point of view regarding something
we once loved. Approaching a fantasy and nearing its shores can
give a more clear view of the darkness, along with the light that it
encompasses, but none the less ignored by the fantasier. People in
life, and in romance enjoy the butterflies and exciting feeling that
new encounters bring. They long to recreate these feelings
constantly. As this romance ages and bad experiences arrive further
down the road, does this make you beginning to loathe the fact you
ever had this love? The desire and fantasy that were made a reality
are now stale and have became rank, or you begin to loathe yourself
for not being satisfied with just the dreams.
Why was Twains main character not content with just the
mere thought of achieving a goal? The answer maybe different for
everyone, but everyone who chooses to follow their desires runs the
risk of their passion being lost. Curiosity killed the cat, and too
much of a good thing is bad for you, this shows that over indulgence
is not wise. You cannot erase your memories and you cannot regain
your innocence once it is gone. Then, seeing a sunset with a red
tent makes it clear at this point, that it is not just a color but the
blood of naivet spilled never to be regained again. You are forced to

look at it periodically, the end of an era of pleasure and the

beginning of hate or worse, an emotionally numb existence.
Twain language is very concise in expression of emotion. He
uses the word but at the beginning of sentences, because he wants
to show how differently the character feels about the river now.
Twain is stressing the characters opposing past and present views
and feelings. This is making the sentences as separate as the
feelings of the character are concerning the past and present. The
character has now seen the river for all that it truly is, and all of
which it is capable. His views of the river are now so different from
his first nave encounters, that he could not stand to put those two
thoughts in the same breath. Doing that would appear vague and
nonchalant. Putting the past with the present would be like not
mentioning the characters feelings about the river at the beginning
of this particular passage.
Saying, I loved you but, now I hate you is too easily said,
compared to, I loved you. But, now I hate you. The feeling of
importance that this word usage gives is obvious. The main
character is less important almost, in comparison to their feelings
about this river. No matter if there is much more that will be
discussed about the river or its effects on this person; or, the way it
has changed this persons views. It is probably an underlying theme
to their way of thinking about anything in their life presently.
Twain uses the feelings of his character, past and present, on
nature and how it relates to their profession; but he uses a doctor

viewing a youth in love, not only that nature. This doctor has felt
the sting of death, death of his innocent and new perception of the
world. He now cannot even enjoy the simple splendor of a youth in
love as pure and natural. A captain of a steamboat and a physician
are not very similar people in profession. Yet, both have to know the
details of their specimen and must know how to navigate each body
precisely.
Each body they deal with is unique, whether it is a body of
water or the delicate human body. When you become familiar with
the exquisiteness of both, they produce not even a mild thrill for
you. The horrors that can be produced by both bodies, and
committed against other life are not shocking at all anymore. A
physician begins to see every change or difference in an individuals
condition as a possible sign of disaster, negatively and
pessimistically viewing the reality of his world through the eyes of
his profession. Soon there after, a mild breeze no longer warms the
soul of a captain but raises hairs of the neck, in fear of impending
doom. Contempt for what was once a passion begins. The steamboat
captain and the physician were not aware of the fact that ignorance
was bliss. If it were possible, Twains character would have probably
gone back to the simple understanding of this river he once had.
Now a professional will struggle to face the fact that the thrill
of life is sometimes its unpredictability and the adventure of
exploring the unknown. After staring at the same open space full of
solitude and charm, you can slowly see what is on the other side of

that beauty. Once you have had to face the dread that lies in wait,
which is the nature of natural things, the horror that you once could
have ignored is now clear. You view your surroundings not as boring
or beautifully alluring but as disdainfully gruesome. Good moments
in recollection converts into corrupted pictures of what once was.
This is the cycle of conversance and its fatigue, but what makes it
worse is not what is lost. What is most hurtful is the actuality that it
was your choice, your voracity and lust, in all likelihood, glutton of
pleasure.
Now, all that you can get for knowing your profession is
nothing compared to the priceless and illusive excitement that you
once felt. It had monetary and professional value, but you expect
that as the unknown became familiar it would be a benefit to you,
from your hard work and effort. Although, a profession is usually not
as much of a choice, but more of a convenience, if your passion and
peaceful feelings can be adjoined, you have a recipe for unrestrained
happiness. It is possible in general, to feel this way for a lifetime.
On the other hand, the main character should not be thought
of as only fatigued with same scenery. Nature is not the same; the
river is constant changing. Seasons come and go bring new sprouts
in the passing years, they turn into towering trees, with new
channels developing in the river continuously. The scenery is always
evolving. This fact shows it took something greater than
acquaintance to transform the main characters view. What was so
peace invoking became painfully numbing to the senses. It seemed

all so unique to Twains main characters previous environment but

he found out that just as any place is, the river to can be a stage for
tragedy and death of vivid emotion.
What if that which you hold dear clashes with your profession
or lives desire and it consumes those people in the process. The
process of your pursuit for happiness, what would be left of you but
a shell of your former self. Your view of life may be distorted. A river
as full of life, has the power to command much death and sorrow.
Just as ducks, men float along the river fully aware of the beauty
but ignorant of the power and sheer hysteria those waters can bring.
The rippling surface can give a warped and eerie picture of
ones self and changed options very easily. There is much feeling in
this character; yet, there is so little variety or ability to express
what they truly felt, or what was the cause. When Twains character
asked questions to the reader, it makes you, you think of how the
feelings of the character are normal and understandable. You find
yourself looking into your collection of experiences, it makes it that
much more human to you. You then attempt to find the answers
that the main character does not give.
If your perception was changed by dramatic emotional trauma,
you would not so easily bypass a struggle. The character is in a
struggle of emotions that are opposite and contrary to each other.
This is not another example of a person taking nature for granted, as
they have for centuries. The character is not so sophisticated and
refined with a transcendent intellect, that eludes him the

appreciation of nature. The cynicism and suspicion that he feels is

because he will never, in his mind, feel the intangible and priceless
happiness again. Showing, when something or someone you love so
much, hurts you, that type of hurt cuts deepest. It feels
immeasurably worse than the offense of a situation in which, your
feelings were not so engrossed. Twains character becomes so
emotionally distant from anything connected to his past way of
thinking, that he could not enjoy the other delicacies around
himself, he cannot understand how he had pleasure in this past way
of thinking.
Contemplating our own innocence and wisdom, we find that
certain things we would have been better off not knowing. Perhaps
we would lose the emotion for our desires and passion, and just take
a momentary or professional view, if something morbid happened
related to our fashion of amusement. We would become more
efficient business people, but we may never enjoy anything, in
anyway, worth considering ever again on this earth. That is a great
tragedy and a greatly humane experience.