Mark Twain's Hypocrisy The War Prayer

Mark Twain, in his Juvenalian essay “The War Prayer” (1916) asserts that patriotic and religious fervor is not a motivation of war. He supports his claim by implementing spiteful irony of situation, grim hyperboles, and effective allegories. Twain’s purpose is to address the immorality of the United State’s involvement in the Philippine War in order to make patriotic and religious people aware of their hypocrisy about war. He adopts a grim, didactic tone (“help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds… help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire… ”) for a religious, patriotic, and feminine populace during the time of World War I.

Appendix:

Type of Evidence: Irony of situation

Examples(s): “We ask it, in the spirit

of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love…”(para.11); AND “...seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts”(para.11); AND “It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said”(para.13).
Link to Argument: Mark Twain intentionally makes “God’s messenger” speak such horrible prayers in order to drive his point about the immorality of war. The “messenger” ironically asks the cruel prayer in the spirit of love to a God who is supposed to embody love and peace, not cruelty and hatred. Twain uses this bitter satire to suggest that religion is simply a disguise for cruelty and hatred.
Type of Evidence: Hyperbole
Example(s): “...help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells…”(para.11); AND “...lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire…”(para.11); AND “...sports of the sun flames of summer…”(para.11).
Link to Argument: Twain uses these grim hyperboles to effectively illustrate the reality of war. His goal is to move the religious audience and make them realize that they are essentially praying for others’ destruction. The hyperboles are effective in creating emotion within the reader.
Type of Evidence: Allegory
Example(s): “With shut lids the preacher… continued with his moving prayer”(para.5); AND “An aged stranger… clothed in a robe that reached to his feet… pale even to ghastliness”(para.5).
Link to Argument: Mark Twain uses two completely opposite characters to convey his belief about war. In this case, the preacher, who was praying for victory, represents the population of people with imperialistic ideals. However, in contrast, the “godly messenger” represented Twain’s side of the argument, anti-imperialism and the opposition towards war. The allegories effectively convey a clear picture of the two beliefs about war during Twain’s lifetime. Twain uses these allegories to appeal to the imperialistic populace and make them be aware of their hypocritical nature.