The War Prayer Summary

Mark Twain" The war prayer" and Williams dean Howell "Editha" both compare their stories to war; they were impelling the characters into something that can cause death. Twain and Howell both contradicted they stories off war that really didn’t take places. The stories were both romanticism. Howells was very much opposed to war and especially the Spanish-American War, which he considered imperialistic. The story impales Editha, who embodies all the nonsense about the heroic romanticism of war and whose false sense of values drives her unfortunate fiancé to a premature death in a questionable war. Howell made it story based off currently everyday situation of manipulative. Twain “War Prayer was devastating indictment of war, and particularly

PRAISE BE TO THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB, THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL, THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA THE BEGINNING AND THE END. I GIVE YOU THANKS AND PRAISE FOR YOUR GOODNESS, YOUR MERCY, AND YOUR GRACE. I GIVE YOU THANKS FOR A MIND TO PRAY, A HEART TO SEEK YOUR FACE, AND THE AUTHORITY TO BRING MY MEMBERS UNDER SUBJECTION. I THANK-YOU FOR THIS MOMENT AND THE OPPORTUNITY EACH DAY BRINGS, I KNOW THAT EACH DAY IS SPECIAL AND I HAVE POWER, FULFILLMENT, AND UNLIMITED ,POTENTIAL. THERE ARE NO CEILING’S ON MY LIFE, OBSTACLES THAT CANNOT BE OVERCOME, NOR BARRIERS THAT STAND IN MY WAY. IN FACT THIS IS THE GREATEST DAY OF MY LIFE, AND I AM FREE TO EXERCISE ALL OF THE GIFTS AND TALENTS YOU HAVE BLESSED ME WITH. MY HOPES AND

An American machine gunner, Charles Yale Harrison, says in his novel, Generals Die in Bed: “[War] take[s] everything from us: our lives, our blood, our hearts; even the few lousy hours of rest, they take those, too. Our job is to give, and theirs is to take,” (Harrison, 26). In this example, Harrison explains how war is the most selfish and strongest of all evils; war continues to take everything someone has until they have nothing left to take. The war also created long-term effects for soldiers; one being shell-shock. This term is used to describe the damage of constant loud shelling during war which greatly affected those who were not exposed to shelling frequently (Unnamed). Another term that is still used today is PTSD, (“Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder”), which is used to describe the effect war had on the soldiers afterward (Unnamed). World War I brought major psychological disorders upon the soldiers during and after the war had ended leading to great damage for the rest of the victim’s

Wars are a difficult place to be. “THE VIETNAM WAR transformed a generation” (Roberts 1). With all that happened during the war such as exposure to

From the earliest times, war has existed as a painful reality. Stories are passed down from generation to generation about brave men fighting epic battles in ancient civilizations. Occasionally a different type of legend emerges: the homefront hero. Leaders in Ancient Greece and Rome are documented preventing panic and raising supplies for their distant armies. From then on through history, those left behind, from the leaders of countries tested in resolve and commitment by wars to the ordinary citizens who rise above their routines to serve their countries, are powerful forces behind victories. World War II was no exception. While the soldiers abroad were undoubtedly true heroes of the war, the parents, siblings, and children they left behind also assisted in the war effort. No one remained truly unaffected by the war. Without the labors of women, the efforts of schoolchildren, and the institution of rationing, World War II could not have been won.

He gives many examples of the unspoken words of all the victory prayers. Twain writes, “O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst.” The realism here comes from how terrible the aftermath of war really is. People die, wives lose husbands, children lose homes and it effects

Those who were recruited to fight in the war often came from lower class families and many were not disappointed to go to war as there were promises of bonuses, as well board and keep (Nash et al.,2008). Sadly, many of the promises did come true and the soldiers suffered overdue payments, which lead their families to much distress. During the war, the soldiers did not have enough supplies to satisfy all of the men they had in their army, so many went without proper clothing, food, and treatment for illnesses. The war was fought in close range because of the weapons that they were using, which meant that the soldiers often became face-to-face with the individuals that they killed. Because the medical services were so underdeveloped at that time, the soldiers were often better off without seeking treatment after being wounded. Overall, the war was trying for the army men both physically and

Thomas Paine, a former writer, speaker, and soldier during the Revolutionary War, changed history by delivering a speech to the troops of General George Washington before the crossing of the Delaware River. The Crisis, given by a soldier himself, helped boost the moral of the war weary soldiers during the Revolutionary war. Thomas Paine also decided to mention that these men were not the summer soldiers in one of his the lines presented as “The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country.” This line describes how other soldiers did not show up to battle when his country needed him most. A soldier who is apart of winning times is happy to fight, unlike the soldier who is ready to succeed after endless strings of lost battles. Overall, the author uses the techniques of establishing himself with credit,

What they fought for is an analysis of a collection of nearly a thousand personal letters and journals entries written by the soldiers who fought America’s famous Civil War. This book seeks to define the ideology of what the soldiers understood they were fighting for, and their comprehension of the outcome of their service .Although counter arguments agree that most soldiers could not give a solid explanation of why they fought for, nor the real Constitutional issues that were at stake; the thoughts the soldiers recorded show that they fought for more than just masculine identity; they highly valued being at home safe with their loved ones, at any cost. This book gives an inside perception of the Civil War, and a

In the short story or prose poem, Mark Twain uses all types of rhetorical devices such as metaphor, alliteration, and diction and many more. This allows to build up an intense way of grabbing the reader’s attention. In the short story, this is manly about how the war is great news and an “aged stranger” is saying be careful of what you pray for. The War Prayer offers a poignant reflection on the double- edged moral sword implicit to war.

The other major factor in allowing the war to be dubbed as “the best war ever” was the economic prosperity. “The U.S. gross national product increased 60 percent during the war,” (114) a statistic which differed greatly from those of the depression years of the 1930’s. The reality under the cover of myth was repulsive. “. . . the coast was littered with shattered boats, tanks, trucks, rations, packs, buttocks, thighs, torsos, hands, heads.” (101) Americans never witnessed the carnage. To add insult to injury, when soldiers on leave told of these horrors, they were considered cowards and victims of

The religion of Christianity is a practice that has been apart of the American nation since it’s early founding, but what is the United States relationship to Christianity? In this class we have discussed three very different versions of the “Christian Nation” dialogue in the books that we have read throughout the semester. These books include John Fea’s Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?, Matthew Sutton’s American Apocalypse: A History of Evangelicalism, and Kevin Kruse’s One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America. Each book gives a different interpretation of the relationship between the United States and the religion Christianity, and how this relationship shaped the United States to the country that it

In the two hundred years since 1775, there has been thirty-five years of fighting in what we consider major conflicts or wars. This averages out to about one year of war to every almost 6 years of our existence as a nation and during that time, we have not been without formal military organizations. Over the course of history, the United States has engaged in many battles that were a crucial phase in developing who and what we have become. Throughout this assessment, we will analyze what were some of the true tipping points that shaped (1) America’s paradoxical love-hate relationship with war and, (2) How this relationship influences American warfare.

During World War II, governments were tried and tested, armies were defeated, and technology leaped forward. However, the effects of World War II extended further onto the American children. Death of fathers, collection of scraps, purchasing of ration stamps, the effects of propaganda, and the technicalities of rationing are all factors that influenced the children of that war. These conditions at work consequently caused the generation of children from World War II to grow into conscious patriots and avid supporters of the war cause.

“The War Prayer” by Samuel L. Clemens, is his attempt to force the public to realize the implicit outcome of praying for victory in war, which inevitably is death. His use of irony and hyperbole is evident in this clever narrative. The passage satirically describes how a very religious town comes together during a time of war to pray for the downfall of the enemy and the triumph of their men. An old man then comes into the church and prays the same exact prayer that the townspeople are praying without concealing the truth. Clemens uses the old man to identify his purpose of the narrative, ignorance to war.