The War Prayer by Mark Twain Literary Analysis Essay Example

“The War Prayer” written by Mark Twain is a short story about the family and friends of men going off to war praying for the men's safety. The people spend time celebrating the war with a parade and fireworks. The next day, the community gathers in the church praying for God’s encouragement on the young soldiers. After they finish a long prayer they are interrupted by a man. The man claims he was sent from God and is there to give them a message. The message explains how the people do not think enough about what they are praying for. The theme of this short story is ignorance can blind you. 

The characters in The War Prayer believe the words war and pray are logical together. However, as a reader, I know a synonym for war is fighting. Meanwhile, another word for prayer is desire. The two words have no sensible connection. There should be no desire for fighting, meaning they should not be praying for war. Why do they pray for war? The fighters and their family are hoping for glory. They want honor and fame for themselves and they don’t care about the lives that are being lost. When their prayers are interrupted the man makes a good point saying, “When you have prayed for victory, you have prayed for many unmentionable results which follow victory.” By saying this, he is telling everyone that when they are asking God for a fight with a successful win, it means they’re also wishing for so many losses on the other side of the fight. If war means armed conflict and prayer means an earnest hope, then they are ignorant because they don’t realize that hoping for conflict is wrong. What does it mean for something to be morally wrong? They don’t understand the effects of the war and it is blinding their vision. This desire to… causes them to not see the consequences of their actions.  

The desire to receive honor and recognition is making the society in the story forget to think about the cost of their actions. In the scene when a stranger enters the church to interrupt the “long prayer” Mark Twain uses many craft moves. For example, he uses an anaphora by stating “his” and then a description of the intruder’s body or features multiple times. By doing this, Twain shows the reader how creepy and mysterious this man seems. This is the first time the crowd begins thinking about what they are praying for. Twain uses an anaphora for the second time when repeating “with” and then explaining how the crowd is reacting to the intruder. By doing this, the reader gets a sense that the crowd is confused. Others may say the crowd is annoyed, but when reflecting on the text, one can see that the quote “With all eyes following and wondering…” shows how invested yet puzzled the crowd is. Mark Twain also uses imagery and descriptive words. One word that stood out to me was fervent meaning having or displaying a passionate intensity. It is used to express the way the priest was praying. This helps the reader understand why the priest didn’t even notice the man in the church. The fact he didn’t notice the man is so important because it highlights the fact that the priest was so deep in the prayer.

In conclusion, the theme in “The War Prayer” is ignorance can blind you. Just like oblivion easily kept the truth from the characters of this story it can give us false ideas too. Mark Twain wants his story to cause the reader to think about what is blinding them in their life. What is blinding you in your life?