Everything about The War Prayer Story totally explained
"The War Prayer," a short story or prose poem by
Mark Twain, is a scathing indictment of war, and particularly of blind
patriotic and
religious fervor as motivations for war.
The structure of the work is simple, but effective: an unnamed country goes to war, and patriotic citizens attend a church service for soldiers who have been called up. The people call upon their
God to grant them victory and protect their troops. Suddenly, an "aged stranger" appears and announces that he's God's messenger. He explains to them that he's there to speak aloud the second part of their prayer for victory, the part which they've implicitly wished for but have not spoken aloud themselves: the prayer for the suffering and destruction of their enemies. What follows is a grisly depiction of hardships inflicted on war-torn nations by their conquerors. The story ends on a pessimistic note: the messenger is ignored.
The piece was left unpublished by Mark Twain at his death, largely due to pressure from his family, who feared that the story would be considered . Twain's publisher and other friends also discouraged him from publishing it. According to one account, his illustrator
Dan Beard asked him if he'd publish it regardless, and Twain replied that "Only dead men can tell the truth in this world. It can be published after I'm dead." Mindful of public reaction, he considered that he'd a family to support
, and didn't want to be seen as a lunatic or fanatic.
In a letter to his confidant Joseph Twichell, he wrote that he'd "suppressed" the book for seven years, even though his conscience told him to publish it, because he wasn't "equal" to the task.
wasn't published until six years after Twain's death, in unusual circumstances.
World War I had broken out more than two years previously, and in that time had produced unprecedented casualties on both sides, yet with the U.S. still officially neutral, and President
Wilson running for re-election on the slogan
He Kept Us Out of War. Twain's story appeared in
Harper's Monthly,
November 1916. Had the attempt been made to publish it five months later, in
April 1917, it might ironically have been seen as too unpatriotic for print.
Further Information
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