Mark Twain and the Mississippi River 马克吐温与密西西比河 教案Word版

Mark Twain and the Mississippi

River

Part One: The Mississippi

1.Show maps and scenery of the river

2.Brief Introduction

The Mississippi River, 3,779 km (2,348 mi) long, is the second longest river, after the Missouri, in the United States. Its triangular drainage area, covering about 40% of the country and including all or part of 31 states, is approximately 3,250,000 sq km (1,250,000 sq mi), the third largest in the world. The Mississippi rises in Minnesota and then flows south, following the boundaries between the states of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana on the west, and Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi on the east. The river, whose name means "father of waters" in the Algonquian language, has long been an important transportation artery of North America.

3.The River and Life

(1)the effect of the Mississippi :

Throughout its history, the Mississippi has always been a major navigation route through the center of North America.

It has served as the border for New France, New Spain, and the early United States，Even today, the river serves as partial boundaries for ten states, and most of its course can easily be seen on a political map.

Just as its name “The Father of Waters”says, the Mississippi River washes the center plain and provides the richest soil for his people.

As the body of a nation, the Old Blue influences the country a lot with its natural and spiritual power.

(2)both sides of the Mississippi

formed the nation but brought into disaster

flowing right through the heart of America, bringing great wealth to the country but great suffering and hardship as well.

The river dominates almost the whole American land, but its south part that dominates the whole nation’s culture and life.

4.The Mississippi River, the Symbol of American Spirits

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, plays a very brilliant and predominant role in American literature. It is a novel of freedom and integrity. The story is about Huck Finn

and Jim‟s adventures journey down the Mississippi River on a raft. Huck is a white boy with a good heart, who escapes from being “civilized”and the maltreatment of his drunkard father. Jim is a runaway nigger, who is afraid of being sold. They are both forced to flee from the human society in order to be free. During the journey down the Mississippi River, they reveal their kindness by nature and establishes a profound relationship, but their isolating “society”is constantly disturbed and suffering the wicked acts from the banks of the “civilization society”. Relying on their wisdom and courage, they obtain freedom in the end. By contrasting the two kinds of societies, Twain thoroughly disclosed the hypocrisy of freedom and democracy in American society of his age. On the other hand, he showed his admiration to the people, both whites and blacks, with the spirit of bravely fighting for freedom and integrity. The theme in this novel, indeed, is that all of men, whites or blacks, should live in a truly democratic country.

Beneath that theme, Mark Twain also succeeds in portraying the Great Mississippi River which carries Huck and Jim to beautiful, but sometimes it is so violent ferocious and terrible. It seems to be an embodiment of some spirits.

“Some critics, notably T. S. Eliot and Lionel Trilling, have gone so far as to see in the River a kind of symbolic deity, a power sufficient to itself. The River …is not ethical or good,‟Trilling says, but it helps goodness grow in those people who make it an important element in their lives.”

While T. S. Eliot has a more profound understanding of the Mississippi River in this novel.

“Eliot maintains that the River dominates the structural form of the novel. The River is used metaphorically, structurally and thematically. Huck sees the big River gliding by and is suffused with a sense of awe and majestic calm. All adventures begin and end on the River. Jim‟s freedom------the central point of the novel------involves a journey down the River.”

Question:What happened between Mark Twain and the Mississippi ??

Part Two:Mark Twain

1.Mark Twain and the Mississippi

Mark Twain was born in Florida. The Mississippi River , flowing though the state,exerts a tremendouus influence on him.The beautiful sight and the colorful life as well as cast of characters are all quite familiar to Mark Twain.Therefore the Mississippi River produces great regional impact on Mark Twain’s literary creation .Mark Twain takes the Mississippi River as the carrier of his classic words,shapes his unique writing style and at the same time bestows specific meaning on the river.