Mark Twain A Morally Deficient Man Essay, Research Paper

Mark Twin was a morally disturbed man, and in that I mean that he was in some ways lacking the proper morals of the Christian life that he proclaims to lead, and his views of God differed greatly from those of the accepted views of that time. He viewed God as something to be found in nature and in the good of man, but not as an initiate that exists as our maker and savior. He also believed in many of the superstitions of the time, and spiritually combined both superstitions and facts of God into one completely obscene belief system. Expressions of these beliefs are woolly apparent in many of his writings: such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Letters From the Earth. Twain also combined bad habits and swearing with his beliefs to justify the habits that he knew were bad, but just could not give up.

Twains rebellious nature can be traced back as far as when he was a young boy of 13 in Hannibal. Working as an apprentice printer in his uncles print shop, he was put in charge of the paper for a week while his uncle would be out of town. It was then that the young Twain, being of devilish mind, decided to put himself to work on a piece that had been rumored throughout town, but to that day had not been brought out in the open. It seems that some time before, perhaps a few days or a week maybe, that a man by the name of Higgins, who at that time was the editor of the rival paper, had been jilted, and one night left a note on his bed, which stated that the could no longer endure life, and had drowned himself in Bear Creek. Upon discovering this note, a friend ran down to the river only to find Higgins wading back to shore, who concluded that he wouldn t. The village was full of the rumor for a few days, but Higgins didn t suspect anything. Twain thought it would be a perfect time to bring things out in the open, and if doing so would show his ability as a writer, probably be a lot of fun, and cause quiet a stirrer throughout town, then so be it. So Twain wrote up a wretched account on the whole matter, and published it in the next issue of the paper ( Times-7 ). Next he turned his attention to the matter of the towns most prominent lady killer, J. Gordon. Every week he wrote lushly poetry for the Journal about his newest conquest, and for the week that Twain was in charge he headed his rhymes to Mary in H_1, meaning Mary in Hannibal. Twain through some kind of evil surge of inspiration composed a snappy footnote that read; We will let this thing pass, just this once, but we wish Mr. J. Gordon Runnels to understand distinctly that we have a character to sustain, and from this time forth when he wants to commune with his in H_1, he must select some other medium then the columns of this journal (Times-8)!” On another occasion young Twain was severely chastised by the local minister, who over heard him say Great God! “Why commit the unforgiving sin when Great Scott would have done as well (Ayres-25)” the minister corrected him. Some time after that the minister arranged to have one of his sermons printed in a pamphlet. The task of correction the proofs fell on young Twain. Remembering the ministers admonition he revised the Reverend s text, correction Great God to Great Scott and Father, Son, and Holy Ghost to Father, Son, and Caesar s Ghost. When the paper came out the town was all a buzz over his detrimental way of publishing news, in fact Runnels came onto the shop with a double-barrel shotgun ready to pump somebody full of lead, until he found out that the author was only a child and let it go with a sound beating ( Smith-135 ). We can see from this behavior that Twain s difficulty with authority and rebellious nature started at an early age.

Twain s rebellion for the church grew, and as Twain grew so did his ideas and theology of religion. Although many have accused Twain of being a heretical atheist, he was not. He believed in God, but not the orthodox God of traditional religion. He wrote in his private notebook in 1898, “The being who to me is the real God is the one that created this majestic universe and rules it. He is the only originator, the only originator of thoughts, thoughts suggested from within not from without He is the only creator. He is the perfect artisan, the perfect artist (Ayres-87).” Twain believed that to know God was to know nature. The ways of God are the ways of nature, and can be observed in the natural world. In the introduction of Letters from Earth he affirmed his doctrine that divine law is natural law when he stated “Natural Law is the LAW OF GOD – interchangeable names for one and the same thing (Ayres-87).” Twain placed much emphasis on the things of this world and very little on the things of God. He lectured over the reading of books, and encouraged everyone to read and expand their knowledge, but virtually ignored spiritual learning. In this quote from Twain we see that he reveres to a river boat pilot s memory, and compares it to having knowledge of the Bible; “I think a pilot’s memory is about the most wonderful thing in the world. To know the Old and New Testaments by heart, and be able to recite them glibly, forward or backward, or begin at random anywhere in the book and recite both ways, and never trip or make a mistake, is no extravagant mass of knowledge, and no marvelous facility, compared to a pilot’s massed knowledge of the Mississippi, and his marvelous facility in handling it. (Moffet-3)” We can conclude from this passage that Twain believed the memory of a river boat pilot greater than that of a learned man schooled in the Bible and spiritual matters, so we can see that Twain placed a great deal of glory upon learning of this world and not of God.

Twain did indeed believe things differently from most at the time, but not all of his beliefs were bad or disruptive in nature. In War Prayer we see that he serverly chastised people for the prayers that were directed to the war. The War Prayer is a story that takes place on a Sunday in church at a time when the nation was preparing for a war. The preacher has just finished praying that God will guide the nations young soldiers safely to victory, when a mysterious stranger enters the church and declares, “I come from the Throne- bearing a message from Almighty God!… When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory (Ayres- 243).” He then reviles these things with this fictions prayer.

O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover the pale forms of their patriot dead: help us to drown the thunder of their guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain; help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with their little children to wonder unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sports of the sun flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of the grave and denied it- For oursakes who adore Thee, Lord, blast their hopes, blitter pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded feet! We ask it in the Spirit of love, of him who is the Source of Love, and who is the everfaithful refuge and friend of all who are beset and seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Amen ( Twain-91 ).

We can see through all of the evidence that I have provided that Twain was lacking proper morals, but not all people shaw him this way. Charles Neider said in his book The Autobiography of Mark Twain; “When Mark Twain died in 1910 he was widely regarded as the most prominent and characteristic American wittier of his generation ( Neider-x ).” So we know that most people viewed Twain as the most prominent writer of his time, be that as it may, he still showed a moral inadequacy in his life and in his works.

Works Cited

Neider, Charles. The Autobiography of Mark Twain. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1959

Ayres, Alex. The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Twain. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1987

“Twain as Printer Devil” New York Times 22 April 1910. Internet, p.7

Twain, Mark. A pen Warmed up in Hell. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1972

Moffet, Samuel E. Mark Twain: A Biographical Sketch. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1906