Thursday, February 3, 2011

To the Person Sitting in Darkness, The War Prayer by Mark Twain

In the essay "To the Person Sitting in Darkness", Mark Twain criticizes imperialism by naming two examples:
the "Boxer Uprising" and the "Philippine-American War". He also mentions historical figures, especially William Scott Ament as part of his criticism. He describes how the Americans who he speaks of in the "us" form, plan their overtaking of the Philippines in a very "screwed up" way- how cruel and barbarous and fiendish had been the warfare made by those whose avowed purpose was to carry the blessed light of civilization and Gospel “to the benighted native”. In his opinion it is very poor "how in very truth these priceless blessings had been handed on the point of a bayonet to the “Person Sitting in Darkness.”" His style of writing is very sarcasm and when it was finished he himself did not want to print it.


In the short story "The War Prayer", Mark Twain criticizes the patriotic and religious blindness as motivations for war.
He begins his story with an unknown nation that is about to go to war. Everyone attends a church service for soldiers who have been called up. The people pray to God to grant them victory and protect their troops. Soldiers and their families are proud of "protecting their country from the evil."
Suddenly a stranger enters the church and announces that he is God's messenger. He tells the people that they should not only pray for them and their soldiers but also for the suffering and destruction of their enemies.
The story has a bad ending since the messenger was ignored.

1 comment:

  1. Your analysis is good. I would like to see a bit more of your thoughts about the essay. However, there is no need to go back and add to this post. Just keep in mind that I want your thoughts about the significance of the works we read.

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