1. What point of view does Mark Twain use in this essay?

2. If Twain had wanted the Mississippi River to be the focus of his essay, what point of view would he have used?

3. If Twain had wanted us to travel on the Mississippi, what point of view would he have used?

4. Twain speculates that other professionals might share his insight. Which professionals?

5. Like the commuters in Washington, D.C., who rushed by Joshua Bell, Twain has learned to focus on getting from here to there. He learned to concentrate on the practical aspects of the river, like avoiding the hazards that would run the steamboat aground. With this new perspective, what has he lost?