Before I analyze the depth and meaningfulness of “Letters from the Earth,” I would like to mention that while reading it, I experienced a nagging hunch that Mark Twain wrote it while intoxicated.
That is not meant to be derogatory at all; I am not implying that “Letters from the Earth” is badly written, or incomprehensible, or that Twain couldn’t have possibly held those beliefs in a sober state of mind, or that it is so vulgar that only a drunk could have written it. To the contrary, I’ve had enough experience with bona fide alcoholics to know that, for certain people, intoxication can make them more expressive, articulate, grandiose, and angry. They also tend to make fun of religion while drunk.
For this reason, the tone and subject matter of “Letters from the Earth” seriously strike me as the writings of an intelligent drunk man, though of course I cannot prove this.
That aside, I enjoy the humor of “Letters.” Though Twain is obviously voicing his religious doubts through the character Satan, the fact that the narrator is Satan to begin with is very interesting. Is this really just an atheistic rant, or is Twain cleverly attempting to point out religious hypocrisy through Satan himself, who seems to be more moral than the humans?
In the first few letters, Satan has many interesting points about Christianity — or at least the common cultural idea of it. God is portrayed as a scientist conducting an experiment; He doesn’t really care about creation or the personal affairs of humans. He creates the universe with its natural laws and leaves it at that, in a deistic fashion.
Satan points out the cruelty of nature, with animals killing and eating each other. He alludes to the classic question, “Why does God allow suffering?” Twain’s answer seems to be that God must not care much about creation.
That question bothered as well, when I was an atheist; I didn’t yet understand the concept of sin and the fallen world. Yet the fact that we ask this question in the first place implies that there’s an intuitive sense built into us that the world isn’t as it ought to be; naturally, normal people (who aren’t psychopaths) recoil from death and violence. We long for a different order, a peaceful system free from danger and fear….Yet if the current system is the only option, why would we have developed this pervasive dissatisfaction with the world?
The last letter is my favorite one — a clever and funny take on the hypocritical Christian theme. The twist at the end literally made me lol, and I usually don’t laugh out loud when I’m reading. If a work makes me laugh or cry or ponder for a long time, then I consider the writing effective.
Though I don’t relate much to Twain’s bitterness toward religion, I appreciate his wit and captivating writing style.
Sophisticated Innocence 