Mark Twain's War Prayer

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In Mark Twain’s, ‘War Prayer’, the author creates a very deep and meaningful piece of art through words, the words paint a story that puts a twist into the reader's mind. Mark Twain uses, Imagery, Personification, Parallelism, biblical allusion, and irony, to challenge the views and oppose the beliefs of mid-century citizens aroused by war. The effects of this style of work delivers the readers into a different perspective over how war can be challenged, and isn’t always the most enjoyable when it comes to what they’re really doing and that happens to be killing other people and destroying their lives. Mark Twain leads the story by starting out with a vast amount of listing. By using the listing technique, it creates further details to exaggerate …show more content…
With the way everyone was thinking at the time, and how oblivious about the soldiers the towns folks were, they didn’t expect the Age man to oppose of their prayers and open their eyes to a different view. The man surprised the readers and the towns folks in the story, by bringing a different view and mindset about the war that opposes everyone else's beliefs making it the perfect situational irony when bringing in the ‘Aged Stranger’. The people at the time believed that if you go to war and fight for your country, that it’s the highest honor, the author displays that in the beginning texts; the people pray for the men fighting to be great and come out victorious, but the aged stranger shows, “If you would beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! Lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time”, this sentence shows that whenever they pray for that, they’re also praying for the death and the end of the opposing people's life. War shouldn’t be a good thing and as a group, they should pray to end war and have peace instead but they used prayer as hateful thing rather than a harmonious

Mark Twain's The War Prayer

Due to my insane love for Mark Twain, I read “The War Prayer” first. This was probably the best order in which to read the two stories because in Twain’s story it is a time of war and pride for country. Pray was dedicated to the front lines in hopes to ensure victory for their flag. This story is a focus on the fact that, in any conflict, for there to be a victor there has to be loser. In war, the loser ends up bloody beaten and bruised. While the people of each country pray for life and victory…

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Satire In Mark Twain's The War Prayer

This is the reason why wars have happened for thousand of years and never showed sign of stopping. Wars bring terrible destruction. However, people do not truly recognized the results after the war, they are blinded by patriotism and materialism. “The war prayer”, a short satirical story written by Mark Twain, illustrated a town when they are preparing for war. By using satire, Twain had successfully shown the blind patriotic and religious belief as a motivation for war, and his hope for humans…

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American Lit Final 1 Essays

always be a double-edged sword. On one end, war can fight evil and establish good, virtuous, nations, however, it almost always simultaneously generates enormous pain and suffering. This duality of war has created much controversy especially over the last several decades as modern warfare has taken a serious toll on human life. People have risen in protest of war’s catastrophic effects in a variety of ways including literature. Mark Twain’s “War Prayer” and e.e. cumming’s “[I sing of Olaf glad and…

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Nothing: Mark Twain and Cheerful Mood Essay

The War Prayer Mark Twain’s use of optimistic diction in the prose, “The War Prayer,” effectively establishes a cheerful mood in a notoriously dismal time. Twain uses words and phrases with a generally positive connotation throughout this prose to lighten up the mood on such a depressing topic. “It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols…

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Civil War Prayer Rhetorical Analysis

that was most powerful to me when i read Mark Twains story was prayer. We often pray to God to do great things for us without paying attention to what we are really wishing for. The family members of the soldiers were praying for their sons to win the battle, but none of them really paused to think about what it would take to win the war and this meant wishing death, pain and misery upon their opponents. I think Twain uses irony because during the civil war there was no freedom of expression, and…

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Mark Twain Satire

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…

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Huckleberry Finn's Influence On Society

Society is cruel and disgusting towards their fellow human counterpart. Mark Twain ex-poses his disgust with society as he leaves many examples in: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. The protagonists encounter several individuals who exhibit undesirable character traits and greatly influence the outcome of Huck’s journey. Twain explores the eagerness of two men to lie and profit from their dishonesty rather than make an honest wage. He exhibits man’s ability to continue a conflict rather than resolve…

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Tom Sawyer Superstitions

Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer portrays how seclusion from citizenship and humanity advocates maturity and belief of the supernatural, which represents America’s rising point after successfully overcoming its problems in the War Between the States, in 1876 when the book becomes published. Mark Twain employs various superstitions to drive its faithfulness from the children to another level, where every action of theirs descends from these irrationalities. Natural imagery in the novel evokes…

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The War Prayer By Mark Twain

Name________________________________ Date_________________________________ “The War Prayer” by Mark Twain It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and spluttering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the…

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Satire In The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

society to employ realisation. Twain’s novel “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and the satire show “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Immigration and Refugees” criticise society by exposing the idiocy of racism and religious hypocrisy. Oliver and Twain uncover the disguised racism rampant in their respective era. They employ social criticism as an important element to unmask the cloaked flaws of society. Twain explores the hidden issue of racism in the pre-civil war era through the…

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