Preview

Mark Twain's Essay: The War Prayer

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
914 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Mark Twain's Essay: The War Prayer
Mark Twain is noted by many as an influential writer in American Literature. Twain produced many great novels throughout his life. Some of his novels contained humor while others were implying a different set of thinking. Further pieces from Twain incorporated the current era of time or shared his viewpoints on certain moral aspects such as racism, religion, and war. War is noted all throughout American History with several authors composing their positions on the issue. One piece from Twain that discusses war is “The War Prayer.” In the poem, Twain uses a unique strategy in sharing his viewpoints on war and religion. This approach should be examined to gain a full understanding of how Twain’s piece relates to social, cultural, and intellectual …show more content…
A person’s intellect is derived from their overall perception of the world combined with their beliefs and moral standing. Twain’s intellectual approach took a basic story and made it into a creative masterpiece filled with hidden messages. In a recent article, “Twain was considered one of the most traveled authors of his generation which overall helped him create a distinct form of writing” (Zehr 87) Twain acquired a vast amount of knowledge throughout his life. He traveled to numerous places, and in doing so, he increased his knowledge of the world along with his perspectives on specific topics.
Thus, Twain was a remarkable literary artist of his time. Initially, one discussed Twain’s use of social contexts in his work along with the story line of “The War Prayer.” Next, one explained the cultural context found throughout Twain’s work. Some history behind the cultural context was examined as well. Finally, the definition of intellectual context was defined along with how the experiences of Twain's life affected the overall outcome of his work. His use of cultural, social, and intellectual contexts created a unique writing style that propelled him to success in the literary

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    the pronoun “I” to “we”. Twain does this by first explaining his own opinion then addresses…

    • 442 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain, societies boundaries and expectations are pushed to their limits not only by the actions of the main character, Huck, but in Twain’s controversial writing style. Though the book is often claimed to be offensive, it was actually a parody of the times. Mark Twain was ridiculing the racist tendencies of mid-1800s society and their views of the poor/lower classes. Through reading “Huck Finn” it is apparent Twain is challenging the reader to rethink society’s…

    • 86 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mark Twain wrote the renowned nineteenth century novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as a humorist, with intentions solely entertain the reader. Although the author warns at the start of the book, “persons attempting to find a moral in this narrative will be banished”, he submerses the reader into Southern society to evaluate their values (Notice). Satirists seek to find motives behind people’s actions and by dramatizing the contrast between appearance and reality; they strive to aware readers of the unpleasant truths within society. With both satire and irony, Twain exposes the selfish qualities of Southern society and their unreligious morals through his realist perspective.…

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    17. The writings of Mark Twain: relied on the realism and humor of the American life…

    • 424 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the world-renowned novel of Huckleberry Finn, one can argue that religious satire plays an instrumental role for the overall plot. This satire does not only make the book more humorous but is the main way Twain can convey his message about conventional religion. Through out the first chapters, one can conclude that Twain disagrees with traditional religious views. This becomes critically clear to the reader through Twain’s comical inferences of satire in the first chapter that run the gamut from disregarding the authenticity of the Bible to plainly mocking the common core beliefs of Catholicism. After reading the novel, one can agree that Twain completely communicates his message through humorous satire.…

    • 641 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Author Henry James has said that "it takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature.” For over one hundred years slavery had crippled the African American people and aided the white man; however, when the Emancipation Proclamation was put into effect it would become a slow catalyst of change that would take over a century for the Civil Rights Movement to be at its pinnacle. Racial limits would be pushed, lasting tension would arise. A great American novel of this time should depict the questionable change in racial demographics of the United States. Set before African American freedom, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, written by Mark Twain has been incessantly praised by authors and critics of all levels for pushing boundaries. It needs to be placed “in the context first of other American novels and then of world literature” (Smiley 1). Much like the American way of leaving the old country behind and immigrating to the United States, the novel’s loveable, young country boy of a narrator, Huckleberry Finn, pulls in readers of all kinds and feels the loneliness of being on his own travelling in the south, save for his runaway slave friend Jim. Along their adventures up and down the Mississippi River to free Jim, the reader follows Huck’s moral development, which is built up during different episodes in the story, but ultimately undone in the end. Although the “roundabout” nature of the end of the novel and Huck’s moral regression has rendered distaste, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn deserves its place in the literary canon of American literature for its variable structure, good-natured narrator, and reflections of Antebellum America.…

    • 3904 Words
    • 16 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The purpose of this paper is not to come up with a definite answer to all the questions dealt with. The main idea is to investigate how Twain describes the importance of identity for the characters and for the society in general. One can make a lot of assumptions about the characters, their looks, their heritage and their actions but there is one thing that has to be told: Nothing is as it appears to be.…

    • 3211 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mark Twain’s novel, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” is considered to be one of the greatest works of American history. His use of humorous satire is unparalleled in modern writing. The meanings of his book are hidden deep within the pages, causing some to question its satirical nature. Written years after the civil war ended slavery, the book takes place in the pre-civil war south; a place ridden with slavery and racism. He uses satire to attack the racism that still thrived even after the death of slavery, the hypocrisy of the religious southerners, and superstition in a lighter more humorous sense. Mark Twain’s satire is one that needs to be looked at in a deeper sense than as pure humor.…

    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Mark Twain wrote The War Prayer in response to the opposition to the Philippine-American War. Twain was a staunch anti-war and anti-imperialist supporter. To take a stance as such at this time in history was considered unpatriotic and in view of most Americans an act of treason. Not many Americans tolerated unpatriotic views during this time. Twain communicates that patriotism and religion are no justifications for war. Twain also felt contempt for people who blindly supported patriotism and war, without knowing the effects of war. Twain contended that those who supported the war only heard one prayer, the other was unheard. Basically praying for victory is praying for the destruction of another. Twain also felt that imperialism was…

    • 155 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Author Jane Smiley writes that “there is more to be learned about the American character from its canonization than through its canonization,” meaning that more can be learned about the racist mindset that prevailed at the time from Twain’s stereotypical writing than from the stereotypes themselves. What this argument fails to consider is that Twain’s writing is satirical and thus critical of societal values and standards; he does not advocate for these racist ideas but rather, through addressing the stereotypes, he is able to undermine them and show their invalidity. Smith too states that the novel’s true aim is “to expose the mismatch between racial abstractions and real human beings,” seeing as the accepted description of the traditional black man differs greatly from any real person, as seen by the kind and loving character of Jim.…

    • 946 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The point made by Mark Twain’s “The War-Prayer” (1905) is simple, even simplistic: that the unspoken part of the desire for victory over the enemy is the desire that misery and death befall others. The irony, as noted by the stranger who comments on this silent prayer, is that it is directed supposedly “in the spirit of love” to “Him who is the Source of Love” (398). In fact, Twain’s piece makes this irony unmissable, as it ends with the failure of the congregation even to understand the stranger’s point, let alone to take it to heart: “It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said” (398).…

    • 1369 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One admirable characteristic Twain shows is Ingenuity. Like most positive qualities in the novel this is shown through the main character Huck. He displays great ingenuity when he is being held by his father in the cabin. Being able to escape showed much of this trait, but Huck took it one step further. He knew his father would be able to track him very easily if he just left and ran off into the woods. By taking an axe…

    • 1003 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Huck Finn Journey

    • 2735 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a schematic, satirical novel based on the physical, emotional and spiritual journey of the “rogue hero” Huck Finn. In the novel, Twain reveals what he believed were the inadequacies of the society at the time and creates an individual who resisted its flaws. In doing so, Twain exposes many aspects of the physical journey, one of which is the ability to learn. The physical journey down the Mississippi river is a catalyst for development, revelations and learning. Huck Finn is taught many valuable lessons about himself, his relationship with society and the nature of the society in the southern states of America in the nineteenth century. Many critics have been lead to believe that through this learning journey, Twain is…

    • 2735 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pudd'Nhead Wilson

    • 790 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Cited: Twain, Mark. Pudd 'nhead Wilson. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2005. 1-121.…

    • 790 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Mark Twain in the short story “The War Prayer”(1905), strives to get the readers to understand why war is unethical no matter the reason but gives both sides of the story so the readers are able to have different opinions on this topic. An example that Twain gives is “God the all-terrible! Thou who ordainest! Thunders thy clarion and lightning thy sword!”. This explains that how biblical Reference to the end old testament in the bible and ties all back to the thesis for war being unethical. Twain brings up “God” a lot of this is because twain really wants the readers to believe that for war to be unethical it has to be for no certain reason. The relationship between the author and the reader is great because Mark Twain really goes into depth…

    • 148 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays

Related Topics