Letters from Earth

“Meantime, every person is playing on harp- those millions and millions!- whereas not more than twenty in the thousand of them could play an instrument in the earth, or ever wanted to.” (312)

"I believe that Mark Twain had a clearer vision of life, that he came nearer to its elementals and was less deceived by its false appearances, than any other American who has ever presumed to manufacture generalizations, not excepting Emerson. I believe that he was the true father of our national literature, the first genuinely American artist of the royal blood."(A quote by H.L. Mencken taken from Mark Twain’s official website).

Letters from Earth is a comical story that is a compilation of letters written from Satan (who is on earth) to St. Michael and St. George who are in heaven. After being banished from Heaven for speaking badly and sarcastically about God’s creation, Satan decides to go to Earth to see what the hype all about. The letters he sends to Michael and George are hilarious excerpts of what humans consider their “heaven” to be. The first letter Satan writes is about hypocrisy and arrogance of humans. The second letter from Satan is more of a question about humankind, and Satan also tells Michael and George that there is no sexual intercourse in their heaven. The final letters discuss different aspects of the church, such as worship, preaching, and attending church as a whole.

I found Twain’s writing to be exceptionally hysterical in this story. There wasn’t a moment where I wasn’t laughing. There are several examples of sarcasm that can be clearly seen in Twain’s letters. The first example of sarcasm and hypocrisy is when Twain writes about humans not being able to play instruments, but planning on spending eternity in a heaven full of a constant flow of music. Satan tells his friends in heaven about how almost no men can play an instrument, yet they plan to be masters of music in heaven. They grow weary and tired after an hour of worship, but in heaven they will never grow tired of “millions and millions” of harps playing! The second example of sarcasm in Twain’s writing (and in the character Satan) is when Twain writes about how men of different races on earth hate each other! “Hear in the earth, all nations hate each other, and every one of them hates the Jews. Yet every pious person adores that heaven and wants to get in to it. He really does. And when he is in that holy rapture he thinks he thinks that if he were only there he would take all the populace to his heart, and hug, and hug, and hug!” (313). This quote is full of funny lines and statements! Twain’s style is so unique, and delivered so precisely that he makes you laugh at all the right places. Like when he says “all nations hate each other”, you laugh because you can understand that point he’s making, and then when you finish laughing from that you continue to read and Twain writes “every one of them hates the Jews”, and you can’t help but laugh again. And it’s not funny because it’s the Jews, it’s funny because Twain does not hold back at all. He doesn’t censor himself, and so it’s almost like everything you think but don’t say out of politeness, Twain will say for you. That is one of the main reasons why Twain is so unique. His work is controversial, but it’s honest and relentless, and it’s what makes his work so memorable.