Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain

Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain is his memoir about vital river life during the steamboat era and a remembrance of it after the Civil War. . Mark Twain (1835-1910) grew up Samuel Langhorne Clemens on the Mississippi River in the small town of Hannibal, Missouri. Twain was a journalist, essayist, and writer of short stories and novels. Mark Twain tells of his life on the river, humorous stories, and a glimpse of his life during his childhood. This Memoir displays a detailed account about how life was like in America in the nineteenth century. The way Mark Twain writes this book is very interesting. It is not a straight forward bibliography. It is more like a book based on actual events. The book tells the story of Mark Twain’s life, but he makes up some of the names of characters and stories. Twain goes into a lot of side stories. Sometimes it can be chapter after chapter of side stories before he comes back to the main story of himself. The main theme of this work is the steamboat and its effect on the lives of people that lived along the great river system in America. This river system is made up mainly of the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio. Twains memoir writing is noticeably different in the second half of the book. Mark twain uses extreme detail to give the readers a comprehensive image about how life on the Mississippi was during his lifetime. Twain did a great job at documenting the nature of life during his time. The memoir also gives a good example how different life in America was than today.
Mark Twains’ Life on the Mississippi gives a clear picture of how life was like in America in the nineteenth century. It was written by an eyewitness who led an interesting life that began on the Mississippi River. Life was lazy and slow paced until a steamboat arrived. "I can picture the old time: the white town drowsing in the sunshine; the streets empty; a sow and a litter of pigs loafing along the sidewalk; lonely piles of freight on the levee; a pile of