Journal Entry "Letters From The Earth"

Stephen Greene

English 48B

February 24, 2011

Journal #19, Mark Twain

"A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read."

"Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint."

"Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities. Truth isn't. " -Mark Twain

“…yet they have tranquilly accepted this kind of a heaven—without thinking, without reflection, without examination—and they actually want to go to it! …they dream of it, they talk about it, they think they are going to enjoy it—with all their simple hearts they think they think they are going to be happy in it!  It is because they do not think at all; they only think they think.  Whereas they can’t think; not two human beings in ten thousand have anything to think with”(313).

The above is a portion of one of the letters sent back to St. Michael and St. Gabriel from Satan describing Earth.  He specifically focuses on the human’s religious beliefs, poking fun at their ridiculous nature, having seen and spoken with the creator himself.  In Twain’s story, humans are an experiment of God’s and our biblical stories and Christian practices are not true and come across as simple minded.  In particular, in this passage Twain, or Satan, is describing the follies of our human definition an description of heaven; it is full of harps, singing, and prayer which we do not enjoy on earth, and lacking any form of sexual intercourse, which the angels hold above all else. 

            This passage and the entire story, “Letters From the Earth” seem to continue one of Mark Twain’s big themes, the description of the ridiculousness of man.  He points out how silly it is for us to believe in, and even look forward to, dream of, a heaven consisting almost solely of things that people do not enjoy here on earth.  Twain, similar to his pointing out Fenimore Cooper’ literary offences, is highlighting the contradiction and ridiculousness in some of our traditional religious beliefs. 

            Twain obviously holds thought high on the list of important qualities.  However, he makes the distinction between thinking one is thinking and actually thinking.  In his exaggerated style, he states, “not two human beings in ten thousand have anything to think with”.  Twain seem to be one of these in his own mind, and in truth as history proves.  He sees through the curtains of pretence that we use to explain why certain things are held in popular belief.  His systematic discounting of each aspect of heaven, breaks this curtain down and shows that we were simply told to like it, to believe it, to dream of it, and we do not actually.  They way that he lays out the arguments, almost lawyer-like in its argumentativeness, clearly shows a high value for reason.  Twain consistently sets up what we believe as true, only to apply truly common sense and basic logic and reason to it, shattering its appearance of validity.  He seems to be at once laughing at and mocking the utter ridiculousness of our behaviors and beliefs, while almost annoyed at our ignorance and stupidity letting it go unnoticed, unquestioned for so long.  Not that he was the first, or the last to highlight the absurdity of people, but one of the great minds to do so.  It is as if he is saying, ‘wake up people.  Come on, just open your eyes, and try to think, just give it a shot.  You’re all crazy’.  And I tend to agree.