A Discourse Analysis of Two Ways of Seeing a River.docVIP

A Discourse Analysis of Two Ways of Seeing a River 　　【Abstract】“Two Ways of Seeing a River”， an excerpt from Life on the Mississippi， written by Mark Twain and published in 1883， is a short but effective comparison essay in which Twain contrasts his then-and-now views of the Mississippi River. The rhetorical strategies and devices that are used by Twain to effectively communicate his messages to the readers will be analyzed from the broad discourse level： the organization of the whole essay and the development of each paragraph. 　　【Key words】Two Ways of Seeing a River； discourse analysis； cohesion； compare and contrast 　　“Two Ways of Seeing a River”， is a short but effective compare and contrast essay written by Mark Twain and published in 1883 in Life of Mississippi. In this three-paragraph essay， Mark Twain contrasts his then-and-now views of the Mississippi River， conveying his consideration to readers ─ what might be gained and lost through knowledge and experience. The organization of the whole essay and the development of each paragraph make it effective for Mark Twain to unfold the two ways of his seeing the river， Mississippi. 　　With regard to the discourse or the organization of a text， cohesion is the key to maintaining the flow or the continuity of the text， which is also true of this comparison essay. In this essay， readers expectations begin when they read the title. The qualifier “two” in the given title “Two Ways of Seeing a River” tells the readers that the genre of this essay is a comparison essay， and the subject is two ways of seeing the same thing. Knowing the genre and the subject of a comparison essay， readers should expect to see that the author will organize his essay either in “the point-by-point method” or“the block method” （Folse and Pugh 55）. 　　By skimming the passage， the readers can easily identify that the author discusses the scenery of sunset at the time “then” and “now” in paragraph one and two respectively. The semicolons