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 st