User talk:ErikD562

2. The tone conveyed in the opening paragrapgh of “The War Prayer” is one of hope and happiness. Diction such as “swung by”(Twain) has a connotation of joy and gallantry, but at the same time seems purposeful and resolute. This proves my thesis statement because the joyful connotation of the word really puts the happiness of the people into the reader’s mind, and some of it is transferred through. Another way that this proves my point is that the determined nature of the word gives the reader a sense of hope that these people will make it out okay. Another interesting choice of diction is when people tears are “running” down their cheeks. Usually, at least in my mind, when a person is crying of joy, the tears aren’t slowly dripping down their cheeks, and this in my mind gave me an image of someone crying through a huge smile, contributing vastly to the overall jolly ton of the passage. Also, “running” always has had, at least for me, a connotation of peacefulness that comes from childhood when my friends and I would run about playing games, which contributed immensely to the tone of this passage. That’s why I think the tone is of hope and happiness.

3. I think the old man is merely a metaphor for Mark Twain’s literal voice and words, and I do believe he has a legitimate message. The reason I believe this is that he attacks them with irony, imploring God “in the spirit of love”(Twain) to “blight their lives, [and] protract their bitter pilgrimage”(Twain). This is an obvious ridicule of the people, seeing as “love” is used in the same context as “blight”, and it shows that Mark Twain obviously wanted the people to understand that to pray for hardship for others almost completely defeats the point of praying at all. I think this is a legitimate message because we often think of people from other countries as animals, simply because they aren’t as advanced as us, and thus we can commit to war with much more ease, but Mark Twain reminds us that they are people too with this passage. The last reason that I believe this person is a metaphor for Mark Twain’s voice is that “it was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said”(Twain). This is obviously Mark Twain’s commentary on the normal person and how they wouldn’t listen to reason even if it “came from God”, and was probably, at least in part, an allusion to how he commonly felt that his messages were perceived. Also, as Mark Twain was a gifted satirist, this must go to show something of what he though about the ignorance of the populace. That’s why I believe the old man is a metaphor for Mark Twain’s voice.

6. The stranger’s contention that prayers for victory are double-edged is meant to be a commentary on the fact that in every war there is a loser- often both sides, a sentiment I very much agree with. I agree mostly because, as the man so aptly put it, we’re praying to God to “drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded”(Twain). This is why war is seen, at least in my mind, as such an abomination: people pray for unnecessary pain and death to the enemy, simply because they are the enemy. People don’t take into account the fact that these people have lives and families, and are in fact people. The stranger aptly states that the results of people suffering terribly “must follow it”(Twain). This is the most prominent case of the “double-edged” theme, as it directly talks about how there are consequences to war. It shows that while one side invariably has it worse, both sides lose, which is the main reason I think prayers for victory are double-edged. That’s why I believe Prayers for war are double-edged.

7. A conclusion that the reader can draw about Mark Twain’s view of war is that he looked down upon it as evil and beastly. We can see this when he prays in a prayer to God “for our sakes who adore thee, Lord blast their hopes, blight their lives”(Twain). This is obviously a satire of what people want to happen to their enemies, and it shows Twain’s dislike of people’s outlook on war. This could be transferred over to his view of war in general, in that people often don’t realize that they’re killing other people, who are merely being told to kill them. Another reason I think he looked down on war is that after talking of all the pain and torture of war, he tells the people “if ye still desire it, speak!”(Twain). This is Mark Twain’s irony at it’s finest, and it shows how badly he wants to show the reader the pains and sacrifices of war. Also, it shows that Twain believed it was the people’s choice whether they wanted this abomination to happen or not, which is perhaps why his view was so low of it. That’s what I think Mark Twain’s view of war was.