Literary analysis of Letters from the Earth with the "Secret Sharer".
             The short story of Mark Twain's Letters from the Earth, while not a short story per se, is worth analyzing due to its rich content in which its theme radiates throughout the story. The short story The "Secret Sharer" by Joseph Conrad also is quite interesting in which its theme is similar to that of Mark Twain's story. From these two stories I have decided to analyze, comes the following statement: the personality of the devil in Letters from the Earth is similar to that of the captain in the "Secret Sharer" in that they both act out the roles they play in secret.
             The theme of Letters from the Earth is that truth is not what is appears to be or what is generally accepted. This is similar to the theme in the "Secret Sharer" which is the discovery of the self image is worth protecting at all cost. All throughout the story Letters from the Earth, the devil makes observations and profound explanations that attempts to contradict God's character and reveal the ridiculous human behavior in order to justify the devil's casting out of heaven. Here, the devil protects his image in heaven by 'proving' God wrong, and convincing the heavenly beings that he is right. An example of this would be in letter 3 where God establishes forgiveness among the human trespassers while not forgiving the 'innocent' offense of Adam and Eve with the fruit. While the devil doesn't necessarily says that he is right, he justifies his casting out of heaven due to the 'truth' that he was sharing with other heavenly beings. The "Secret Sharer" is similar in that the captain finds this fugitive, who is the chief mate of another ship, which is the representation of the secret image the captain has been longing to find and reveal. Here the captain hides and nourishes this person amongst his
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