Comparison Essay 'The War's Prayer'

Justin Young, Mrs. Roland, Global Studies, 11 April 2024.

In God We Trust? How does one justify an unrighteous act? Moreso, how does one turn a morally unrighteous act into (at least in their own mind) the opposite? The answer to this is in the name of religion. One can justify almost anything in the name of religion. One can prescribe righteousness to an action where no righteousness can be found. Poets Mark Twain and Bob Dylan understood this truth and wrote about it in songs and poems. Twain’s poem “The War’s Prayer” tackles the issue of righteousness in the name of religious belief with a bitter tone. Dylan, on the other hand, goes with a much more cynical approach in his song “With God on Our Side”. Both writings share the theme of the

One example comes when God's messenger is speaking to the townsfolk and says, “In your hearts — fervently pray silently. And ignorantly and unthinkingly?” (Twain). The use of the words “ignorantly” and “unthinkingly” illuminates the speaker’s anger. It is a direct, bitter, criticism of the people and their prayers. Unlike Dylan, Twain uses no cynical sarcasm to illustrate his frustrations, he gets straight to the point. Another example of this comes earlier in the man’s speech when he says, “If you would be seeking a blessing upon yourself, beware! lest without intent you invoke a curse upon a neighbor at the same time. If you pray for the blessing of rain upon your crop which needs it, by that act you are possibly praying for a curse upon some neighbor’s crop which may not need rain and can be injured by it,” (Twain). The speaker makes his warning clear, religious righteousness cannot justify the negative side effects that come from one’s prayer. This is used to highlight the hypocrisy of people “righteously” praying for a victory in war, even though this victory will lead to pain and death for other people. The speaker (and Twain himself) are clearly bitter about said righteousness being used to justify the horrors of