What Is The Tone Of Two Views Of The River

In Mark Twain’s “Two Views of the River”, about Mark Twain recounting his ability to recognize and appreciate beauty early in his career as a steamboat pilot, in contrast to his perceptions later in life when his job became monotonous, he uses various types of diction in order to create contrasting tones, and analogies in order to teach the audience to examine the ways in which knowledge can destroy ones ability to appreciate nature’s beauty. His use of diction in contrasting tones, and analogies, helps show how his increased knowledge and familiarity with the river caused him to lose his appreciation of it.

In the first paragraph, Twain utilizes figurative diction in order to create a romanticized tone. Twain exploits metaphors and similes

to refer to the individual aspects of the river and the river as whole. He says, “leaves that glowed like a flame”, “trail that shone like silver”, and “as many tinted as an opal”. The author’s use of poetic like language in the first paragraph, when the river is new to him, shows his initial innocence and his ability to analyze the rivers beauty. The author compares the river to precious items such as silver and opals (a valuable gemstone). By comparing the river to such treasured items, the author is able to convey his love for the river when it is new to him. Mark Twain exaggerates the beauty of the river by using words like “glowed”. The leaves in the river did not literally glow. When initially being introduced to the scene of the river, Mark Twain is in a speechless rapture. His amazement and curiosity at that time is what intensified what he observed. The author links romance and splendor with the river because it causes us to have an emotional rather than sensible connection with nature. His lack of knowledge in the first paragraph is what empowered him to cherish the artistic elements and wonders in his life.
The second paragraph serves to present a contrast to be evaluated.

In this paragraph, Twain uses literal and pedantic diction in order to create a pragmatic and blasé tone. In the second paragraph Mark Twain says, “that floating log means that the river is rising” as opposed to the first paragraph when he says, “through which a solitary log came floating back”. Mark Twain juxtaposes descriptions of the same river that are observed by the same man. The difference, which is the focus of the topic lies not in the river, but in the observer. The second paragraph, which has a more practical approach to the river, is based on conjecture. It is assembled using the same components as the quote from the first paragraph, however the pilot’s competence and knowledge allow him to reveal the dangers integrated into the scene. In the quote from the second paragraph, Twain does not use any metaphors or similes when describing the river, hence using literal diction, and he pays attention to the very minute details of the river that will serve as warnings of dangers. This goes back to the author’s purpose; not knowing something is more comfortable than knowing about it. When Twain was unacquainted with the river he was excited to see all that it had to offer and he appreciated every inch of it and that was reflected in his use of figurative diction. But, as soon as his knowledge of the river was expanded he could no longer overlook its imperfections and his subsequent experiences grew to be wearisome, repetitive, and tedious. When Mark Twain says, “that floating log means that the river is rising”, he gets to the point quickly, and uses a ‘cause and effect’ sort of structure, and he states what actually happened without exaggeration or inaccuracy. Another example of literal diction in the second paragraph is when Mark Twain says, “that slanting mark on the water refers to a bluff reef which is going to kill somebody’s steamboat one of these nights” versus “a long, slanting mark

lay sparkling upon the water”, which is what he says in the first paragraph. The way in which Mark Twain delineates the river alters from the first to the second paragraph. This change, which is evident in his variation of diction, occurs as time passes and as his knowledge grows and ignorance lessens. In the first paragraph, Twain examines the river in an imaginative manner and therefore cannot write literally. In the second paragraph, Twain is past the point of construing things imaginatively so instead of using figurative diction he writes exactly what he sees, in accordance with the strict meaning of words and what he thinks will happen as a result of the way nature has arranged itself.
In the final paragraph, the author establishes an analogy. He says, “the romance and beauty were gone from the river… Since those days, I have pitied doctors from my heart. What does the lovely flush in a beauty’s cheek mean to a doctor but a “break” that ripples above some deadly disease? ...And doesn’t he sometimes wonder whether he has gained most or lost most by learning his trade?” Mark Twain relates the adjustment of his mindset from paragraph one to paragraph two, to what a doctor must undergo when inspecting the human body. After a while, he assumes that doctors are unable to appreciate the body’s distinct charming characteristics and instead only notice markers drawing attention to the eventual decline/deterioration that the form is bound to. Doctors get countless numbers of patients so after a while they are no longer capable of appreciating the beauty of the body so they sacrifice beauty for professional understanding and Twain pities doctors for such a sacrifice. The river lost all of its charm and beauty once the author became fully aware of all of its characteristics and wonders. At this point, the rivers only value was its usefulness towards “compassing the safe piloting of a steamboat”. He is empathetic towards the experiences of doctors because they are similar to that of his. Twain chose to end his passage with a rhetorical question “for effect and to lay emphasis on a point discussed when no real answer is expected.” The final rhetorical question was used to lay emphasis on Twain’s belief that education at the expense of wonder is no gain and this was proven throughout his writing by paying attention to the different types of diction he used, the tones he emitted, and the analogies he used. Twain chose this analogy because it is the final testimony towards proving his point that you cannot attain both knowledge and beauty.