Twain's "Letters from the Earth" p.307

Mark Twain is a very clever writer. I admire the way he uses fictional characters to express his point of view. For example, he uses Satan as a way of communicating how he feels about humans and God. Twain’s tone throughout his piece is that of mockery which makes him come across as very daring and bold. Not many people would dare mock religion and God, creating in him somewhat of a revolutionary figure for his time period. His boldness adds an intriguing element to his writing.

At the same time, he is very offensive toward what most religious people consider to be sacred. He writes, “Many men pray, not many of them like to do it. A few of them pray long, the others make a short cut” (Twain 311). We can truly see Mark Twain’s stance on religion and his attitude toward the sincerity or lack thereof of those performing its rituals. It is as though he thinks that religion is ridiculous and that people just pray for the sake of praying rather than for true spirituality. At first, I could not help but chuckle as I read these lines. Perhaps it may not have been humorous to someone reading this in the nineteenth century, but things have changed. Another line which struck me as humorous is, ”Most men do not sing, most men cannot sing, most men will not stay where others are singing if it be continued more than two hours” (Twain 310). I thought this to be very funny because I could relate to those men who can’t sing.

One of the passages that struck me as critical and controversial is in Letter number two, where he writes about the hatred that exists amongst races. He points out the irony in human actions. He explains that although humans have created the idea of a heaven free of racism, they continue to live in racism on Earth. Twain states:

The inventor of their heaven empties into it all the nations of the earth, in one common jumble. All are on an equality absolute, no one of them ranking another; they have to be ‘brothers’; they have to mix together, pray together, harp together, hosanna together—whites, niggers, Jews, everybody—there’s no distinction. Here in the earth all nations hate each other and every one of them hates the Jew. Yet every pious person adores that heaven and wants to get into it. He really does. And when he is in a holy rapture he thinks he thinks that if he were only there he would take all the populous to his heart, and hug, and hug, and hug! (313)

Twain comes across as a very pessimistic person. To Twain, it seems as though everything is wrong with the world, and that nothing can ever be done to fix it. He not only points out the racial conflicts taking place at that time, but the hypocrisy of humans as they create an ideal world of peace in heaven which they make no effort to live up to on Earth. He also mocks them for not practicing what they preach: why should they wait to achieve goodness in heaven when they can have it here on Earth if they so desired?

Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" p.30

I chose to write about Walt Whitman because he strikes me as a very interesting fellow. Although he comes across as very conceited at times, I admire his boldness. From the very beginning of "Song of Myself", one can sense the arrogant tone of Whitman's poem. He starts off with, "I celebrate myself, and sing myself, and what I assume you shall assume..." He puts himself on a pedestal. Later on, Whitman continues with:

"Divine am I inside and out, and I make holy whatever I touch or am
touch'd from,
The scent of these arm-pits aroma finer than prayer,
This head more than churches, bibles, and all the creeds."

This passage struck me to be very daring, as he portrays himself as holier than the holiest. It seems to me that he didn't care what people thought about him. He would say what he wanted to say, and did as he pleased.

As arrogant as he may seem, I can also see a sympathetic side in him. For example, in passage ten, he writes about a runaway slave whom he took in, bathed and clothed, and kept in his home until he had recuperated. Not only does he voice his political views against slavery, but shows the kindness in his heart.

One of the most unusual passages that I came across in Whitman’s poem is passage eleven. This passage is very sexual, much like most of his poem. When I first read the passage, I thought that it was unusual that he was watching a woman whom in turn was watching “twenty-eight young men bathe by the shore.” Although his focus in the passage is on the woman, it is interesting that he was able to describe the men in great detail. After reflecting on what I knew about Whitman’s homosexuality and rereading the passage, I think that Whitman is the “woman” looking on. Furthermore, he mentions that “an unseen hand also pass’d over their bodies.” This could be a metaphor for his desire to physically touch the men himself and to satisfy his temptation.

Throughout his poem, and similarly to another one of his poems, “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry”, Whitman describes his fascination with the simple things in life. In passage two from “Song of Myself”, and passage three of “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry”, Whitman gets very intimate with his surroundings. He takes in all of the sights, sounds, smells, and feelings that surround him, and reflects this in his writing.

Something to think about

On my way home
I come across a door in the middle of the street
I walk through it and see the future
I turn around and go back through it and see the past
What has happened to the present