Life On The Mississippi Essay

In Life on the Mississippi Mark Twain reveals the permanent ambition of every young boy on the west bank of the Mississippi River. That was to be a steamboatman. The prestige, mysteriousness, and pay together make such an aspiration so attractive to a young boys imagination.

The boys of the village of Hannibal, Missouri had many transient ambitions such as becoming a clown for the circus, becoming a pirate, etc. These fascinations faded and what remained was becoming a steamboatman. All aspects of the steamboat had a magnetic appeal on the boys. Thoughts of following these dreams intruded the minds of nearly all the young boys. The prestige of being known as a steamboatman was like nothing else. The status of any position held as a steamboatman was greater than any other vocation. Whether you were scrubbing a rusty bolt, standing at one end ready to tether to the dock, or the pilot himself, you were a steamboatman and you were coveted. The entire town would come to life when the steamboat pulled into port. As if the town existed only to support the steamboat. The technical jargon that the steamboatman used captivated the young boys.

There were various positions on a steamboat that one could pursue. A boy could aspire to become a cabin boy, mud clerk, barkeeper, apprentice engineer (striker) or the most coveted position of becoming a steamboat pilot. One by one the boys of Hannibal acquired some of the aforementioned positions. They were overjoyed with the sense of being bound for mysterious lands. The great Mississippi, the majestic, the magnificent Mississippi, rolling its mile-wide tide along, shining in the sun held a tremendous amount of charm. Dreaming of floating along from one new adventure to another was irrepressible. With this dream left unfulfilled one might just explode.

A final draw of becoming a steamboat was the pay. A pilot could earn from one hundred and fifty to two hundred fifty dollars a month and no board to pay. This was equivalent to a preachers salary for a year. Even the men in the subordinate positions were paid well and flaunted their wealth for all to see through wearing hair-oil, silver watch with a showy chain, leather belt and no suspenders. As if all this wasnt enough, no girl could withstand a steamboatmans charms.

Is it a wonder that this villages boys were awestruck by becoming a steamboatman? Any one of the abovementioned attributes would have been enough to hook a boys imagination. But, all combined and surely kept the steamboat filled to capacity with new, young, fresh recruits ready for an adventure.