Great War Prayer

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Recommended: Analysis of the war prayer by mark twain

There is a multitude of great literature to read and enjoy from the Civil War until present day. In the following paper there will be a critical analysis of just one of the many great pieces of literature from this time period. With so much great literature to choose from this time period the hardest part was to choose just one to write about. This paper will be a critical analysis of the Great War Prayer by Mark Twain. To really truly understand someone’s work you need to understand who they are as a person as well as their beliefs and core values. Having a firm understanding of the author’s personal life as well as the time period the piece of literature was written will help to engage the reader into a better understanding of what …show more content…

Mark Twain sets the stage for the story in the beginning when describing the exalting excitement and patriotism that is going through the town. Everyone is booming with excitement and nervousness as it is the day before the battle to begin. There is little opposition to the war that is dealt with rather quickly and is to be put out of sight. Mark Twain is using a very satirical criticism of the absolute glorification of war as well as criticizing the patriotism of those supporting the soldiers preparing to go to war to kill the …show more content…

In a very slight manner Mark Twain is pointing out how naïve not only the soldiers are but so are those patriotic people of the village who pack in the church to support the deploying of the soldiers. Then in the story when a stranger steps in to the church to give their personal prayer it is one of a vastly different tone and implications. The audience can only justify these comments by the stranger by saying that he was crazy and did not know what he was talking about. “It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he

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