THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER IN MARK TWAIN'S BOOKS AS A RESERVOIR FOR STUDYING AMERICAN CULTURE.

The purpose of the article is to find out the role, symbolic meaning, and functions of the image of the Mississippi River in “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” (1876) [4] and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” (1884) [3], the two greatest works of fiction by Mark Twain; the article also aims to explore how different aspects of American culture are revealed in the two great Mark Twain’s books and how this knowledge can contribute into studying US culture. Our research is based on text analysis and interpretation of images in “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” One of our assumptions is that the Mississippi River is rightfully called the “Body of the nation”, as it has played an outstanding role in economic, historical, and cultural development of the American nation. The Mississippi Valley has given rise to numerous cultural masterpieces with their variety of topics, characters, and creative techniques; it has also modified Mark Twain’s approach to life and fiction. Another assumption is that the two greatest books by Mark Twain provide a thoughtful reader with a lot of cultural knowledge including the geographical and historic background, traditions, beliefs, values, and character types of the XIX-th century America. To conclude, the two Mark Twain’s books under discussion, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, should be considered not only as samples of exciting fiction, but also as a cultural reservoir that serves as a valid source for studying America of the XIX-th century by university or high school students or any other interested readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]