Persuasion Point of View

Thomas Paine and Mark Twain are two men who both wrote essays on two very different wars. Thomas Paine was the author of “These are the Times that Try Men’s Souls” which discusses the Revolutionary War between America and the Great Britain and Mark Twain wrote the essay “The War Prayer” which was based on the Philippine- American War. After carefully analyzing both essays, I found that Thomas Paine makes the strongest argument overall compared to Mark Twain. Both writers effectively persuade their readers using careful word choice, themes, proper organization, and tone, but in very different ways from one another.

After carefully examining Thomas Paine’s essay, “These Are the Times that Try Men’s Souls”, I noticed a major theme he uses to move his audience to support his side of the War. He uses the theme of God to persuade his audiences to his side, the Patriots. For example, “I cannot see on what grounds the king of Britain can look up to Heaven for help against us…” (Paine 464) In this quote he gives the reader the impressions that God is on their side and not on Britain’s because he views them as evil. If you take a look at his word choice you will notice this throughout the text. He uses words like murderer, highwayman, and housebreaker to describe Britain and never says anything positive

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about them. If you were to take a look to how the essay was organized you will notice that he starts off describing the seriousness of the situation and how the lives of the colonist are being constrained because of Britain. He then gives his opinion about what Britain has done and how the colonist’s should not take this harassment. He does go over a little overboard when he describes the conditions as “slave like” and when he chooses to refer to himself as a “whore of his soul” if he were to surrender to the British. Overall the tone of his essay was serious because he felt that what the British were doing to his country was unfair.

I felt that this essay was much more effective compared to Twain’s essay because Paine does a much better job attacking our ethos, pathos, and logos. He pertains to our ethos by his theme of God. Paine is aware that many people are religious and those who are unsure still feel that there is a greater being similar to God. He also pertains to our pathos by describing how Britain is treating them. For example, “Britain, with an army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that she has a right (not only to tax) but “to bind us in all cases whatsoever” ”. (Paine 463) Here Paine explains that Britain is similar to a fascist country. He effectively gives the reader the impression that it’s much worst than it seems even though it may or may not have been. Paine also pertains to our logos in a way by why they should fight back against the British Empire otherwise they will continue to live like slaves.

Mark Twain’s essay “The War Prayer” takes a much different approach then Thomas Paine’s essay. The first thing you notice after reading his essay was the way his essay was organized. Twain starts off by painting you a scene about the preparation to

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fight in a war. He uses words such as patriotism, drums beating, bands playing, firecrackers hissings and spluttering to describe a joyous situation. It almost seems as though he is saying War is a great thing but as you continue reading, you realize that he has a negative connotation of war and is against it. Twain also uses dark satire in his writing. I noticed this during the actual prayer. After I analyzed the prayer I