Answered>Order 18390

Read the passage.

excerpt from Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain

Published in 1883, the first half of Mark Twain’s memoir documents his days as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River.

She is long and sharp and trim and pretty; she has two tall, fancy-topped chimneys, with a gilded device of some kind swung between them; a fanciful pilot-house, all glass and “gingerbread,” perched on top of the “texas” deck behind them; the paddle-boxes are gorgeous with a picture or with gilded rays above the boat’s name; the boiler-deck, the hurricane-deck, and the texas deck are fenced and ornamented with clean white railings; there is a flag gallantly flying from the jack-staff; the furnace doors are open and the fires glaring bravely; the upper decks are black with passengers; the captain stands by the big bell, calm, imposing, the envy of all; great volumes of the blackest smoke are rolling and tumbling out of the chimneys a husbanded grandeur created with a bit of pitch-pine just before arriving at a town; the crew are grouped on the forecastle; the broad stage is run far out over the port bow, and an envied deck-hand stands picturesquely on the end of it with a coil of rope in his hand; the pent steam is screaming through the gauge-cocks; the captain lifts his hand, a bell rings, the wheels stop; then they turn back, churning the water to foam, and the steamer is at rest.

gingerbread: wood cut to form a fancy scrolled pattern

boiler-deck: the ship’s boiler, which creates the steam, is located on this deck

jack-staff: pole for a ship’s flag

husbanded: economical; frugal

grandeur: impressiveness

pitch-pine: a short leaved pine tree

gauge-cocks: valves that determined the water level, ensuring a boat does not travel into water that is too shallow

How do phrases such as “port bow” and “gauge-cocks” affect the passage?

• A) They make a second, symbolic level of meaning that suggests how much of what happens on the ship is merely for show.
• B) They give the passage authenticity and highlight Twain’s own expertise and knowledge of steamboats.
• C) They add humor to the passage, highlighting Twain’s understanding that such technical language will confuse the reader.
• D) They serve to answer questions that Twain knows the reader will have when faced with a passage on steamboats.