mark twain letters from the earth full text

Noah's ark becomes a floating representation of the failures of the Biblical God.

The Biblical God decides against this and chooses Noah to be saved aboard the ark. Satan reiterates his beliefs that the Biblical God would have been better to simply drown all of humanity and begin again. The ark and the religion are built by uninformed people and both are missing key parts.Įven the purpose of the ark is fundamentally flawed. The ark and the religion have both been put together in a flawed manner and the creators have refused to return to the design to make alterations for obvious limitations and flaws. Noah's ark is not fit for its purpose and in this respect it symbolizes the Christian religion. The ark he builds is too small, lacks maps, a compass, or a rudder, and can barely sail. Noah is tasked with the job of saving all of humanity and he finds himself very suddenly out of his depth. He is a good man but he is not particularly experienced or suited for building or sailing an ark. The ark becomes an important symbol in Letters from the Earth because of the numerous failures and oversights which marks its construction.

The ark built by Noah is a reference to a story from the Bible but reinterpreted from a fresh and objective perspective. He uses symbols such as Noah's ark, hell, and germs to illustrate the extent to which humanity has failed to assemble a coherent and sensible religion. Satan writes the Letters from the Earth to try and explain the particular insanity of humankind to his fellow archangels.

Mark twain letters from the earth full text