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
Published in England three months before being sold in the United States Tom Sawyer is Twains most selling book The novel describes the childhood adventures of the young character who embodies the ideal of American youth during the frontier era around 1850s People agree that the story is not as good as the novels sequel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn but there is no doubt that Tom Sawyer is considered among one of the greatest books in history This sense of innocence and youthfulness that i
Reading in An American Childhood An Unparalelled Influence In her memoir An American Childhood Annie Dillard conveys to her readers her deep love of reading For Dillard reading and the pursuit of knowledge are what make the world go round Dillard even states that she reached the point where she was now believing books more than I believed what I saw and heard 183 Dillards love for reading is demonstrated time and time again It would be a difficult task for her readers to find a section that has