Life on the Mississippi

by Mark Twain

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Life on the Mississippi Questions and Answers

How did Hannibal's people respond to the steamboat's arrival in Twain's Life on the Mississippi?

What permanent ambition did Twain and his boyhood friends share?

Identify three examples of imagery in Mark Twain's "Cub Pilot on the Mississippi."

Was Twain justified in striking Brown, despite it being against the law?

What does Twain mean when he says "the romance and the beauty were all gone from the river"?

What literary devices are used in Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain?

In Life on the Mississippi, what does young Twain record in his notebook?

What happens when the boy, who survived a steamboat explosion, returns to town in Life on the Mississippi?

What were Twain's initial feelings towards Mr. Bixby in Life on the Mississippi?

Which two steamboat jobs did Twain admire in Life on the Mississippi?

How do Twain's experiences with pilot Brown contrast with your view of Bixby as a teacher?

Considering chapters VI-VIII of Twain's Life on the Mississippi, how would you evaluate Horace Bixby as a teacher? Would you want him as a teacher?

What interesting experiences did Mark Twain have as a cub pilot?

What is the permanent ambition of the narrator and his boyhood friends in Life on the Mississippi?

How does Twain compare memorizing the Bible to memorizing the Mississippi in Life on the Mississippi?

What does Mark Twain say about extrapolation in Life on the Mississippi?

Where is the thesis in Life on the Mississippi?

What does the final paragraph of Twain's legend reveal about him?

What techniques does Mark Twain use in "Cub Pilot on the Mississippi" to bring characters to life through speech, actions, and interactions?

Why did Mark dislike the steamboatman in Life on the Mississippi, yet wanted to talk like him?

What motivated Mark Twain to become a cub-pilot on a Mississippi riverboat in Life on the Mississippi?

What's the main idea of the first and second paragraphs from this text?

In Life on the Mississippi, how does the river change Twain's romantic life notions?

What three observations did Twain make on his train ride to St. Louis?

How does Twain describe Hannibal, Missouri and its surroundings?

What are your impressions of a riverboat pilot's job?

What logical structure unifies the two paragraphs about the night watchman?

How does Bixby exaggerate about Twain needing to know the river better than his own home?