Old Times on the Mississippi

A detailed Summary of Old Times on the Mississippi

Samuel Langhorne Clemens (pen name Mark Twain) was born on November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri. In 1839 the Clemens family moved to Hannibal, Missouri" (Chew). This "location was well suited for steamboat landings"(Rasmussen 188) because it was on the Mississippi. Twain was a steamboat pilot for several years, and by the time he started to write "Old Times," he had been away from the river for over ten years. It is then understandable to think that Twain might, in writing "Old Times," tend to be more than a bit un-realistic. After all, as the saying goes, "absence makes the heart grow fonder." Throughout the story he "focuses on the romanticism and heroism of steamboating" (Rasmussen 344). However, at the end, he does come back down to earth by showing the true realism of steam boating.

From the beginning of "Old Times," Twain is in an "Ah, those were the good ole' days" tone. Twain explains that the number one goal, the "one permanent ambition" (McMichael 238) of the boys in the small riverside town where he grew up, was "to be a steamboat man" (McMichael 238). The reason for this had to do with the popularity of the steamboats in the townspeople's eyes. Twain's village was always very quiet and lifeless, until a stea

The midnight watch was a detail in piloting that had never occurred to me at all. I knew that boats ran all night, but somehow I had never happened to reflect that somebody had to get up out of a warm bed to run them. I began to fear that piloting was not quite so romantic as I had imagined it was; there was something very real and work-like about this new phase of it (245 McMichael).

What does the lovely flush in beauty's cheek mean to a doctor but a 'break' that ripples above some deadly disease? Are not all her visible charms sown thick with what are to him the signs and symbols of hidden decay? Does he ever see her beauty at all, or doesn't he simply view her professionally, and comment upon her unwholesome condition all to himself? And doesn't he sometimes wonder whether he has gained most or lost most by learning his trade (McMichael 260)?

I first wanted to be a cabin-boy, so that I could come out with a white apron on and shake a table-cloth over the side, where all my old comrades could see me; later I thought I would rather be the deck-hand who stood on the end of the stage-plank with the coil of rope in his hand, because he was particularly conspicuous. But these were only daydreams--they were too heavenly to be contemplated as real possibilities (Twain 328).

The reason why Twain and his friends admired the steamboat men was because of all of the attention they received from everyone in the village. Basically, they all wanted a job on one of the boats, so that they could gain of all of the attention of everyone in the town. Twain and his friends made Gods out of even the lowest worker on a steamboat. In their eyes, jobs that were located on land, could never amount to the job of a steam boatman.

At this point, Twain's thoughts about "the good ole' days" have become something more important with its development from ideal, or romanticism to reality. It is about innocence and experience, in the sense of a person becoming mature in the way he sees the world. For example, Twain describes a beautiful scene of the Mississippi, from the perspective he had when he first started traveling it. He creates a wonderful picture with words. Next, Twain describes the same scene through the eyes of a pilot. He says: "a day came when I began to cease from noting the glories and the charms which the moon and the sun and the twilight wrought upon the river's face; another day came when I ceased altogether to note them." (McMichael 259) Every feature of the river, to Twain the pilot, is a sign of some problem to be dealt with. Most of the beauty on the river's face actually hides danger. Finally, Twain concludes that "all the value any feature of the river ha

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Approximate Word count = 1806
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English