War Prayer Analysis 
Patriotism is defined as a cultural attachment to one’s homeland or devotion to one’s country. In a similar way, when following religion, one must devote their self to God. So how does patriotism and religion work together if there are two separate principles people devote themselves to? Twain’s usage of contradicting tones, irony, and imagery answers this question with an emphatic, “They don’t.”
Opening the short story up with a description of what seems to be a parade, one can pick up on the joyous and celebratory tone immediately within the first line, “It was a time of great and exalting excitement.” This tone continues up until the “aged stranger” stalks up the church’s aisle, where the tone shifts from celebratory to serious. When the mysterious man appeared in the church, “he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes-” and it was no longer loud and passionate; it was quiet.
Before this mysterious figure delivers his speech, the church people are praying for the safety of their soldiers and the defeat of their war opponent. This is an ironic situation, because in Christianity (and many other religions), murder is a sin and the people in church are asking God for everything he’s against: war and destruction of humanity. Also, even though the identity of this man isn’t exactly confirmed, he introduces himself as God’s messenger who is supposed to have ethical appeal towards the Christians. After the messenger’s departure, Mark Twain wraps up his story by saying “It was believed afterwards that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said.” This situation presents itself as ironic because, the speech the messenger gave was simplistic and visual, which made it easy to comprehend.
Mark Twain then continues to address the issue of mixing religion with patriotism by using imagery. Twain strategically places imagery into the messenger’s speech to evoke the feelings of sympathy for the “other side” and maybe even disgust. Sentences
Opening the short story up with a description of what seems to be a parade, one can pick up on the joyous and celebratory tone immediately within the first line, “It was a time of great and exalting excitement.” This tone continues up until the “aged stranger” stalks up the church’s aisle, where the tone shifts from celebratory to serious. When the mysterious man appeared in the church, “he surveyed the spellbound audience with solemn eyes-” and it was no longer loud and passionate; it was quiet.
Before this mysterious figure delivers his speech, the church people are praying for the safety of their soldiers and the defeat of their war opponent. This is an ironic situation, because in Christianity (and many other religions), murder is a sin and the people in church are asking God for everything he’s against: war and destruction of humanity. Also, even though the identity of this man isn’t exactly confirmed, he introduces himself as God’s messenger who is supposed to have ethical appeal towards the Christians. After the messenger’s departure, Mark Twain wraps up his story by saying “It was believed afterwards that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said.” This situation presents itself as ironic because, the speech the messenger gave was simplistic and visual, which made it easy to comprehend.
Mark Twain then continues to address the issue of mixing religion with patriotism by using imagery. Twain strategically places imagery into the messenger’s speech to evoke the feelings of sympathy for the “other side” and maybe even disgust. Sentences
Cited: Turkovich, Marilyn. "Re: The War Prayer-- Mark Twain." Web log comment. Http://voiceseducation.org/content/war-prayer-mark-twain. N.p., Sept.-Oct. 2010. Web. Nov.-Dec. 2014.