Mark Twain Satire

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The Greatest Moral Evil Some call it mockery or mimicry, but it is often one of the most effective ways of making a point or sending a message. Satire, which uses humor (though not always funny) to expose and point out issues in order to correct, has been used for centuries to change things for the better. For satire to be effective though, there a few requirements. Firstly, it must have a point. Someone, or something at which to argue your message. It needs to be ethical, your target is worthy of it’s criticism and your arguments cannot be baseless or without merit. There is also a specific tone that effective satires carry, that of a strong, concentrated, and knowledgeable person. The two satires, both effective, “next of course god america i” by e.e. cummings and “The War Prayer” by Mark Twain, explore and analyze the tragedies of war and the things we do to justify and distract ourselves from them. In his short story, “The War Prayer”, Mark Twain argues that some things are immoral to be prayed about, namely war-related things. Twain supports his argument by depicting a man, claiming he has a message from G-d himself, and that G-d has heard the terrible things they’ve secretly been praying, the citizens …show more content…
cummings suggests that many people use their jingoism and xenophobia to justify their wars and killings of innocent people. cummings supports his claim by depicting a scenario of a nervous, unconfident man rambling phrases about our country's greatness, who then trails off and speaks his own person truths of how terrible war is. The authors purpose is to highlight and illuminate these issues so that these people who are like the speaker will realize the terrible monstrosities and situations that soldiers and their enemies are forced into. cummings laments to his audience of normal people, the message being directed to politicians or people in positions of making wartime decisions, by using tone and
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