Eric Williams

ENG 232-01

Research Paper

March 16, 2010

Removing the Glorified Mask of War in “The War-Prayer”

Published in posthumously in 1923, thirteen years after his death, “The War-

Prayer” is a seldom mentioned anti-war short story in which Mark Twain conveys his

anti-war, pacifistic views. Mark Twain wrote “The War-Prayer” in protest of the

Philippine-American War. Twain employs a variety of literary methods, including

Realism, imagery, satire, and Romanticism in a way that powerfully and effectively

expresses his anti-war message.

As previously stated, Twain wrote “The War-Prayer” in protest of the Philippine-

American War. “The War-Prayer” was actually written in 1905 but was published

posthumously, years after Twain’s death, because it was rejected by the Harper’s Bazaar,

a magazine in which Twain had a publishing contract with (Powers 33). In a letter to a

friend just after the rejection of “The War-Prayer”, Twain writes “I don’t think the prayer

will be published in my time. . . None but the dead are permitted to tell the truth” (Powers

34). This statement has proven to come true over the years as “The War-Prayer” was not

read during Twain’s lifetime and is seldom known as one of his works today. However;

with the similarities between Twain’s writings and the present situation in our country

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today, “The War-Prayer” has gained more attention recently than it has ever gained

throughout the entirety of its existence.

Twain uses romanticized imagery in the beginning of this story to create a picture

of a nation preparing itself for battle. His sentences are full of colorful, descriptive

language that paints a very clear picture of a society that is excited about the thought of

war. This section displays Twain’s use of Romanticism to create a vivid image of what

the congregation of “The War-Prayer” would have looked like:

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 sun;

daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue gay and fine in their

new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheering

them with voices choked with happy emotion as they swung by; nightly the

packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory with stirred the deepest

deeps of their hearts, and which they interrupted at briefest intervals with

cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in the

churches the pastors preached devotion to flag and country, and invoked the God

of Battles beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpourings of fervid

eloquence which moved every listener (Twain 1).

The text in his introductory paragraph is loaded with colorful language and description

creating a heavily romanticized tone. Twain describes a vivid scene of what the avenues

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looked like as the people where excited about the upcoming war. This text includes

images of little children playing with toy pistols and the sounds of firecrackers being

thrown in the streets. One interesting thing to note is the lines “on every hand and far

down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of

flags flashed in the sun,” (Twain 1). One who remembers images of the streets and

neighborhoods of the United States after the terrorist attacks on September 11th 2001 will

get the same mental image as Twain is describing here. After 9/11, American flags flew

off of store shelves everywhere, and literally the entire nation was flying flags to show

their support and patriotism. This image of a “fluttering wilderness of flags. . .” (Twain

1) is something that current readers should easily be able to relate too. Twain has painted

a picture of a country up in arms, proudly excited to enter onto the battlefield.

Following the previous section above, Twain brilliantly wrote a section about how

any dissenters of the war were treated. This shows the romantic mindset of the majority

of the people about the war:

It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half dozen rash spirits that

ventured to disapprove of the war and cast a doubt upon its righteousness

straightway got such a stern and angry warning that for their personal safety's

sake they quickly shrank out of sight and offended no more in that way (1).

The greater majority of the general population of Twain’s story not only supported

the war but where also very excited about it. This statement that Twain makes about how

dissenters were treated by the general population can be correlated to modern day events

as well. During the 2003 American invasion of Iraq, the French imposed supporting the

War and were vilified by the “Patriotic” public for doing so. “Young Patriots” visiting

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quick-serve restaurants no longer ordered “French Fries”; “Freedom Fries” became the

new standard for their value meals. This absurd, yet true, example fits in exactly what

Twain wrote about how dissenters of the war effort would be looked upon. The war

effort in this story was popular and had a “band-wagon” type effect to it, and anyone not

willing to jump on the “band-wagon” was scorned.

Following his introductory section the story continues with the Sunday morning

church service a day before the soldiers would leave for battle. Twain romanticizes the

description of the gathering just as he previously has done. One sentence that shows the

epitome of Mark Twain’s use of Romanticism in this piece is “With the volunteers sat

their dear ones, proud, happy, and envied by the neighbors and friends who had no sons

and brothers to send forth to the field of honor, there to win for the flag, or, failing, die

the noblest of noble deaths” (2). Mark Twain has satirically loaded this sentence with as

much Romanticism as he could to drive home the mindset of these people to his reader.

These people are glorifying war and regard the act of war as a glorious endeavor; this is

precisely what Twain is writing against in this work. In an essay examining the usage of

Romanticism in the works of Twain, Bierce, and Howells, Tim Edwards writes:

“Deploying the language of Romanticism against itself in startling, sometimes even

surreal ways, these works descend from the heights of flowery Romanticism to the

darkest abysses of the gothic-all in the name of presenting a realist’s vision of war.”

(Edwards 71). Twain writes the beginning and setting of this story in such a heavily

sarcastic romanticized voice, that he is successful at using the method of Romanticism to

create weakness in itself. Through the extensive and dramatic use of Romanticism,

Twain has created a ridiculous image of his congregation. Ultimately, the over-

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emphasized Romanticism will destroy the credibility of the congregation in this story.

The congregation’s glorification of war is simply unbelievable to the reader. Twain does

this to prepare the setting for his use of Realism to crush any remaining feelings that war

is something that should be glorified. Twain has brilliantly used Romanticism to

dismantle and discredit itself in “The War-Prayer” (Edwards 73).

The scene continues with a sermon from the pastor about a war chapter of the

bible followed by the “long” prayer (Twain 2). Twain writes that,

The burden of its supplication was, that an ever-merciful and benignant Father of

us all would watch over our noble young soldiers, and aid, comfort, and

encourage them in their patriotic work; bless them, shield them in the day of

battle and the hour of peril, bear them in His mighty hand, make them strong and

confident, invincible in the bloody onset; help them crush the foe, grant to them

and to their flag and country imperishable honor and glory (2-3).

This is the last of the Romanticism that Twain uses in this story. Following this prayer

for “. . . imperishable honor and glory” (Twain 3), Twain introduces Realism to the story

through form of the “aged stranger”. Twain is striving to present the point that there

should be no imperishable honor and glory through the lost of human life in warfare.

Twain describes the stranger as an aged individual with shoulder-length white hair with a

face that was “. . . unnaturally pale, pale even to ghastliness” (Twain 3). In her article

comparing the anti-war statements in “The War-Prayer” and “The Private History of a

Campaign That Failed”, Maggie Oran compares the strangers of both stories and makes a

striking conclusion. Regarding the white descriptions of the strangers in both of Twain’s

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stories, Oran writes “This color choice suggests purity and innocence, and is appropriate

because both strangers play the role of revealing the cruelty and corruption of wars by

demonstrating the horrors of needless loss of life” (66). Twain writes that there is an

unspoken message behind the prayer that the pastor so eloquently presented. The

Stranger was sent from God to reveal to the congregation what the unspoken message

entails. Twain uses the Stranger to show the Realism and pain that has been hidden from

what the congregation perceives as the face of war. From the voice of the stranger Twain

writes “I am commissioned by God to put into words the other part of it -- that part which

the pastor -- and also you in your hearts -- fervently prayed silently. And ignorantly and

unthinkingly?” (4). It is interesting to note how Twain posed the last part of that

statement as a question, questioning the congregation on whether or not they understood

what they were praying for when they prayed for victory in this war. The prayer of the

Stranger sent from God follows:

Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth into battle -- be

Thou near them! With them -- in spirit -- we also go forth from the sweet peace of

our beloved firesides to smite the foe. O Lord our God, help us tear their soldiers

to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale

forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the

shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble

homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending

widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little

children to wander unfriended in the wastes of their desolated land in rags and

hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames in summer and the icy winds of winter,

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broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring thee for the refuge of the grave and

denied it -- For our sakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blight their

lives, protract their bitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with

their tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it,

in the spirit of love, of Him Who is the Source of Love, and Who is the ever-

faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset and seek His aid with humble

and contrite hearts. Amen. (Twain 5).

Twain uses very graphic and horrifyingly depressing Realism to convey the

message of what he sees as the evils behind war. This prayer of the stranger is the

centerpiece of the story. Twain has prepared his reader for this one final, and incredibly

powerful blast of Realism to finish off any remaining thoughts that war is something that

should be glorified. In this prayer Twain has unmasked the face of war; he has taken off

war’s glorified mask and exposed the repulsing truth about the instrument that has caused

the loss of an unimaginable number of human lives since the beginning of history.

Twain concludes his story with one final, ironic jab at his romantic war-glorifying

opponents. “It was believed afterwards, that the man was a lunatic, because there was no

sense in what he said” (Twain 6). This statement shows the power behind Twain’s use

of irony. He was in a situation where he felt lead to speak out against the evils of

glorifying war, yet the people did receive his message and the “fires of patriotism”

remained alive in their hearts because they simply did not want to accept the truth. It

would be easier to brush the Stranger off as a lunatic (Or, not publish Twain’s story) than

it would be to accept the fact of one’s wrong doings (Lock 77).

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Works Cited

Edwards, Tim. (2009). The Real Prayer and the Imagined: The War against Romanticism

in Twain, Howells, and Bierce. Journal of Transnational American Studies, 1(1), .

Retrieved from: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/2215m9ts

Fishkin, Shelley Fisher, & Tatsumi, Takayuki. (2009). Editors' Introduction: New

Perspectives on 'The War-Prayer'. Journal of Transnational American Studies,

1(1), . Retrieved from: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/6kb9h5qg

Lock, Helen. (2009). Twain's Rhetoric of Irony in 'the War-Prayer'. Journal of

Transnational American Studies, 1(1), .

Retrieved from: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/3943t6p3

Oran, Maggie. (2009). Anti-War Statements in 'the War-Prayer' and 'the Private History

of a Campaign That Failed'. Journal of Transnational American Studies, 1(1), .

Retrieved from: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/4rk327rk

Powers, Ron. (2009). What Hath Happened to 'the War-Prayer'. Journal of Transnational

American Studies, 1(1), .

Retrieved from: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/2xp7f2wt

Twain, Mark. (2009). Typescript of "The War-Prayer". Journal of Transnational

American Studies, 1(1), .

Retrieved from: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/01m6g7h8