The events in The War Prayer, by Mark Twain, go along very well with many of our discussions from this semester. In this story an unnamed town is preparing to send many of its young men off to war. The group of people are full of patriotism and hope for a victory. In church they pray that God helps their young soldiers do well in the war, and defeat the opposition. In the middle of a prayer a man enters the church and claims he is a messenger of God. In his own prayer the stranger shows the crowd that by praying for victory they are also praying for the murder of others, and the desolation of another country. The town dismisses this man as a lunatic.
To me this story aligns perfectly with many of our class discussions about topics including mob mentality, religion, and hypocrisy. The group of people are all too willing to go to war, and their patriotism blinds them from the truth of their situation. They want so much to be victorious, and support the men they are sending to war that they don’t realize just how devastating any war truly is. They pray to a God, who most people see as loving and good, for victory over their fellow man. When the stranger brings this to their attention they simply ignore him, and pass him off as a lunatic. It really seems that Twain is pointing out how easily people can be blinded by their own beliefs and customs.
In many ways the people in this story reminded me of how Americans acted just a few days after September 11th. People were so fervent. They hung flags, wrote country songs, and basically bled red, white, and blue. Now 10 years later we are still paying for the rash actions we took in the name of patriotism (in my opinion). This wave of patriotism also prompted many to commit hate crimes against fellow Americans who had differing religious background. Today we still have radical religious leaders who commit acts of hate, such as burning Korans, in the name of God.
yes serenity the story does align well if many of our class discussions, i agree also with your last paragraph i was thinking the same thing in class and i didn't know how to approach the subject. There were people a few days after 9/11 that didn't think it was a good idea and just like in this story they were dismissed and called crazy for not thinking the same way the majority did!
ReplyDelete@ Keith - Speak up!!!
ReplyDeleteGood points, Serenity. What do you think Twain would offer as an alternative?
Thanks Keith. I thought it would be a little bit of a touchy subject too. That's why I made sure to add that it was just my opinion. :)
ReplyDeleteMrs. Freeman- It is hard for me to pin down exactly what I think Twain's alternative would be, but basically I think he just wants people to think logically about their actions. I think he would tell us to consider all sides of an argument before making any rash decisions. He also wants people to see they error of their ways and be open to scrutiny, rather than just dismiss our critics as they did in the story.