Kealey Gill ENGL 2600 1:00-2:20

Getting into Kealey Gills Head

For my translation adaptation project I chose to do a photo essay of The War Prayer by Mark Twain. The story was about a country that went to war. Its citizens attend a church service for the soldiers who have been called off to war. The people pray to their God for victory and the safety of their troops. An aged stranger appears and announces that he is a messenger of God; he tells them that he is there to speak aloud the rest of their prayer, the unspoken part. The unspoken part is the prayer for the suffering and destruction of their enemies. I read through the story several times, each time analyzing what the theme was. I split the story into several parts, dissecting each part, deciding what the theme was and deciding what picture I could use to display that theme. For example when it says It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, I showed pictures of soldiers fighting. A photo essay is a set or series of pictures that are intended to tell a story or evoke a series of emotions in the viewer. I decided that I could show what the story was saying; tell the story through pictures, using Mark Twains The War Prayer. As I was working on my project, reading the story several times, I realized that this story could be true in this day and age, in any time really. I perceived the story as an anti-war, pro peace person, standing up and trying to reason with others. This person being the stranger who entered the church and took the preachers place. There was a war going on, everyone was praying and attending church, praying that their loved ones out in war would be safe, that god would keep them safe. This stranger was trying to show these people what they are really asking when they say these prayers. For it is like unto many of the prayers of men, in that it asks for more than he who utters it is aware of He was trying to show them that their prayers are two in one. In a way it shows how our society thinks competitively, everything is a win- lose situation, and each side wants to win. But only one side can be the victor in a win-lose situation. If you beseech a blessing upon yourself, beware! Lest without intent you invoke a curse upon your neighbor at the same time. The whole of the uttered prayer is compact into those pregnant words. In a time of war, everyone wasnt their soldiers to be safe. Has anyone ever stopped to think about this? That by saying Lord keep our soldiers safe, it is also saying Lord please let our soldiers win the fight and kill the other side? I am a religious person and many times I have thought about this. Asking the Lord to keep my family safe, what about others families? Here is yet another example of why we should think before we speak. Think about what we are saying or asking.

This story can apply to any year, any day, any conflict situation. I used present day photographs in order to show this. We all want our loved ones to be safe. And we all want to live in life or death situation, which is the kind of situation you are in when it comes to war. I believe there will always be war, thats just the way society works, we operate on a win-lose basis, we are very competitive. However in war both sides want their side to win, by praying for your side to win, its being selfish. Its like jumping up and down and pointing out yourself, pick me, pick me! Forget the others, pick me, pick my side, who cares about everyone else, pick me! When you have prayed for victory you have prayed for many unmentioned results which follow victory. The prayer that the stranger said to the people in the church really shows this. The best, most interesting part of the story was when the stranger was finished telling the prayer they all thought that the man was a lunatic. None of they even considered what he was saying, no one took the time to think about it, to be open minded and say, maybe hes right. It shows how stubborn people can be when it comes to their beliefs. We need more open minded people in the world. The people just dismissed it all, a crazy man came in and spoke some bologna, why even think about it, there was no sense in what he said, hes crazy, he doesnt know what hes talking about, right? I agreed with the stranger and his tellings.