Gustavo Quintero
English 48B
January 17, 2008
Journal #7 Mark Twain



Quote:
"It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said"(Twain 324).



Summary:
The town is having a religious rally to send off the troops with a high morale. Amidst the town people is a stranger who claims he is a messenger of God. The towns people cast him off as crazy and pay no mind to what he said.


Response:
I found that the last quote line in this work struck me as the most powerful and profound out of the whole short story. The most ironic thing about the towns people calling the man crazy is that he is summarizing what they are all praying about. In a nutshell the man is telling everybody that their prayers have been heard by God. The villagers pray that their soldiers kill all the enemy soldiers and that they come back home safe. Yet when the stranger says this he is outcast as crazy. This really says a lot about the attitudes and beliefs of these religious people. Who is to say which side is right. How can you expect a loving God to answer your prayers asking for the deaths of all the enemy soldiers. This really strikes me as odd that these religious people would wish death upon people they do not know. This reminds me of our current day situation with the war on "terrorism".The military is constantly saying how God is on their side yet so are the people we are fighting. Who is to say which one is right and which one is wrong. To me it seems like an easy way to gain the support of people by saying that God is on your side.

Religion is a very sensitive issue which is why Twain wrote this piece of work. He wrote it so that the reader would be aware of the criticisms that are made about religion. As easy as it is to use God to gain support it is just as easy to call someone crazy and make your cause seem like the right one.