Mark Twain and His Influence of Religion, includes Works Cited

Essay by happy_bubblesUniversity, Master'sA+, April 2006

download word file, 9 pages 5.0

Throughout his writings and his life, Mark Twain earned a reputation as a cynical critic of Christianity, as illustrated by observation that "if Christ were here, there is one thing he would not be, a Christian." (Twain, Mark Twain s Notebook 328). In Twain's collection of letters and essays contained in Letters from the Earth, his writings include several letters which interpret different religions and the Bible. Excerpts from Adam's, Eve's and Shem's Diary describe the evolution of humans and the earth. Twain speaks of the curiosity of human beings which led to "hundreds and hundreds of religions" (Twain 14). The overall approach is sensitive to the many twists and turns in Twain's views of religion.

The evolution of the earth and descriptive images spoken through the eyes of Adam and Eve, as written within their diaries, is meant to present an immense descriptive mental picture in the minds of the reader, allows Twain to explore the beginnings of the universe, the beginnings of life.

The reader, through these images can actually view the enormous beauty God intended at the earth to be. Through Eve's descriptions and Adam's scientific discoveries of every new discovery, the world began to evolve. Twain needed to express through his writings, the wonders of the universe and the wonders of God.

Twain continues his quest to explain to the reader the evolution from the time of Adam and Eve, through the present time and what is expected of humans, humans that follow religious beliefs such as Christianity. Twain explains the needs for repentance from the good deeds and sins we commit in our daily lives. As Twain stated: "Often when we repent of a sin, we do it perfunctorily, from principal, coldly and from the head; but when we repent of a good deed...