2 view of mississippi river vs. some reflection on american manner.

Hi, this is my first semester of college and i'm doing a paper on these 2 essays. Mark Twain's 2 view of mississippi river and Tocqueville's some reflection on american manner. We have to do summary, anaysis/interpretation, synthesis, and evaluation on it. But i have no idea what the themes for both of the essays are, and what they have in common. I know that for Twain's essay, he basically stating that he rather see the ugly and truth then to ride like a passenger. For tocqueville, who just came to america, he sees that people in America also have some form of artistoctle manner within them ( even though america is suppose to be equal) So he sees the ugly , but truth as well . This is the only thing i know that they have in common

i'm asking those that have read these 2 essays, for abit of advice on the theme, because i have no idea what the american manner one is trying to see ( it is written in old english).

Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks.

Yes, this kid of assignment is great! I looked online for an article about these two essays, so that i could link you to it, but it seems that little has been written about them together! That makes this a meaningful project! Now, what you should do is read an analysis of each, and look both guys up in wikipedia, so that you really understand what they are all about, and then go back and read each essay. Read and reread. After the first one, write a paragraph about what you got from it. After the second one, do the same. This essay is not just about those two, and their opinions -- it is about YOUR view.

Old English, Shmold Shmenglish... You CAN interpret these in your own way. After every sentence, there is a period that you can stare at until the truth of the sentence elicits a response in your own mind. Periods are good focal points for meditation.

This hould help with Twain: carolinanavy.com/fleet2/f2/zkilldevilhill/MarkTwainhall/cas/ 145.html

Tocqueville's "Some Reflections on American Manners" is not written in Old English. It isn't even written in Middle English. It is, in fact, written in modern English, as you would expect from someone writing in the 1800s. If you are trying to read something written in Old English, you have got the wrong text in front of you. A decent copy can be found here: xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/DETOC/ch3_14.htm

thanks alot! I really appreciate your advices :)