This river is famed in atrocious song and verse; the most prevalent motif is one which attempts to make of the river an ersatz father figure. Actually, the Mississippi River is a treacherous and sinister body of water whose eddies and currents yearly claim many lives. I have never known anyone who would even venture to stick his toe in its polluted waters, which seethe with sewage, industrial waste, and deadly insecticides. Even the fish are dying. Therefore, the Mississippi as Father-God-Moses-Daddy-Phallus-Pops is an altogether false motif began, I would imagine, by that dreary fraud, Mark Twain. This failure to make contact with reality is, however, characteristic of almost all of America’s “art.” Any connection between American art and American nature is purely coincidental, but this is only because the nation as a whole has no contact with reality. That is only one of the reasons why I have always been forced to exist on the fringes of its society, consigned to the Limbo reserved for this who do know reality when they see it. . John Kennedy Toole
About This Quote

In this quote, Shakespeare was referring to the myth of the river as a father figure. He was poking fun at those who believed that the Mississippi River had been created as a loving father for those who live on its banks. In reality, however, the river was dangerous and toxic. The water was full of chemicals and pollutants.

It was not a friendly place for people or animals to live in. The idea of a river as a loving father is one of the most common ones used in literature and art. Many people say that they have a river as a father figure, but few can think of any real examples of that being true in their lives.

In this case, Shakespeare is making fun of the idea of a river as a father figure by citing an example from one of his plays where he makes fun of another man’s belief that the Nile River had been created as a loving father.

Source: A Confederacy Of Dunces

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