"Letters from Earth" Mark Twain

Growing up in as a Christian in a Christian household reading Mark Twains “Letters from Earth” was somewhat disturbing to me. The section “Satan’s Letter” caught the most attention from me. It was almost creepy to read. The way the Satan talks about people and laughs at them just game me the chills. The whole piece is very opinionated and seems to me that Twain had some anger issues about Christianity and is almost like venting here. In the beginning in the footnotes it said that Clara, Twains daughter did not want to publish this story because it would misinterpret what her father believed about religion. It made me wonder how so? If one doesn’t believe something they would not be writing a book about it. I believe that he did believe what he was saying but because it was against the law to write such things he wasn’t open about it with his family.
Although there are few different sections in this passage I will focus on the “Satan’s Letters”. The speakers’ tone in this section is sounds very evil to me, like the Satan is laughing while he is writing this. To me it seems that Twain is writing about more than just religious views or his beliefs. I think in a way he might be making fun of the society that he lives in. Back in the day they didn’t have as much freedom as they do now. Everything was based of off Christianity and people didn’t know anything else. God was all they had and heaven was the only desire most had. He wanted maybe people to think “out side of the box” for a change. Although the way he does it, is kind of rude and could be offending. I could see now why he’s daughter wouldn’t want anyone to read this.
In “Letter II” it is also interesting how the author makes a point about white men and how they do not associate with colored nations, but yet they are all expected to live together in heaven. So once again I think Twain wants to make a statement about the society, which he lived in. Everyone is considering himself a “Christian” but does not follow the rules of Christianity. It is like almost the author wants to reach out to people this way to get their attention and make everyone see how they truly live. Jealousy and hatred towards one another is not going to get them to heaven.