Thursday, January 19, 2012
ENGL 481 Blog post 1
While reading Letter's from the Earth a particular section which stood out in my mind was from Satan's letter "Moreover -- if I may put another strain upon you -- he thinks he is the Creator's pet. He believes the Creator is proud of him; he even believes the Creator loves him; has a passion for him; sits up nights to admire him; yes, and watch over him and keep him out of trouble. He prays to Him, and thinks He listens. Isn't it a quaint idea" (Twain 1909 ,2). Satan's observation of human ego is both intriguing and in my opinion accurate. Satan portrays humanity as having a large ego when it comes to God. Human beings with their massive ego believe themselves be the favored children of God while Satan portrays humans as insignificant test subjects. My initial reaction to the section was shock at the subject matter Mark Twain chose to publish. I was surprised at the potential controversy that such a publication could cause. My overall reaction to the text was very positive. I strongly supported the sentiments of the section.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with you that Satan is very insightful in regards to the human ego. It was very brave of Twain to take on such a controversial topic; however, after reading the "Whittier Birthday Dinner Speech," I don't necessarily think controversial was out of character for Twain. I believe Twain was able to observe what he saw in society and write about it in a way that many people would be able to understand. I think that Twain wrote this from Satan's perspective, rather than from another angel's or God's, because Christians of the time would be less likely to be offended when Satan is saying something rude about them. It is obvious that Christians do not think highly of Satan and therefore do not take his word seriously. I believe all of your initial reactions to the text were accurate and I found these points interesting as well.
ReplyDelete-Stefanie Eggers
That's an interesting point about the human ego, Ryan, and Twain's skewering of it. He gets back to this idea in "The War Prayer" in that those praying think only of their side of the equation rather than that of the other side.
ReplyDeleteStefanie's point about putting these thoughts in the voice of Satan is apt, too, although these were letters that Twain never published in his lifetime. In fact, his DAUGHTER wouldn't allow them to be published until the 1960s.