"Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven" is a short story written by American writer

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by the pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, and essayist. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has produced," with William Fau ...

. It first appeared in print in ''

Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States. ''Harper's Magazine'' has ...

'' in December 1907 and January 1908, and was published in book form with some revisions in 1909. This was the last story published by Twain during his life.Ketterer, David
Tales of Wonder - Notes
p. ix-x (1984)

Description and plot outline

The story follows Captain Elias Stormfield on his decades long cosmic journey to Heaven; his accidental misplacement after racing a comet; his short-lived interest in singing and playing the harp (generated by his preconceptions of heaven); and the general obsession of souls with the celebrities of Heaven such as

Adam Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam). According to Christianity, Adam ...

Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...

, and

Elijah Elijah ( ) or Elias was a prophet and miracle worker who lived in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Ahab (9th century BC), according to the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah defended the worsh ...

, who according to Twain become as distant to most people in Heaven as living celebrities are on Earth. Twain uses this story to show his view that the common conception of Heaven is ludicrous, and points out the incongruities of such beliefs with his characteristic adroit usage of

hyperbole Hyperbole (; adj. hyperbolic ) is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. In rhetoric, it is also sometimes known as auxesis (literally 'growth'). In poetry and oratory, it emphasizes, evokes strong feelings, and cre ...

. Much of the story's description is given by the character Sandy McWilliams, a

cranberry Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus ''Oxycoccus'' of the genus ''Vaccinium''. Cranberries are low, creeping shrubs or vines up to long and in height; they have slender stems that are not th ...

farmer who is very experienced in the ways of Heaven. Sandy gives Stormfield, a newcomer, the description in the form of a conversational question-and-answer session. The Heaven described by him is similar to the conventional Christian Heaven, but includes a larger version of all the locations on Earth, as well as of everywhere in the universe (which mention of, albeit as a backdrop, is the last

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

element). All sentient life-forms travel to Heaven, often through interplanetary or interstellar space, and land at a particular gate (which are without number), which is reserved for people from that originating planet. Each newcomer must then give his name and planet of origin to a gatekeeper, who sends him in to Heaven. Once inside, the being spends eternity living as they think fit, usually according to its true (sometimes undiscovered) talent. According to one of the characters, a cobbler who "has the soul of a poet in him won't have to make shoes here," implying that he would instead turn to poetry and achieve perfection in it. On special occasions a procession of the greatest people in history is formed; on this particular occasion this includes

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

, Muhammed, Daniel,

Ezekiel Ezekiel, also spelled Ezechiel (; ; ), was an Israelite priest. The Book of Ezekiel, relating his visions and acts, is named after him. The Abrahamic religions acknowledge Ezekiel as a prophet. According to the narrative, Ezekiel prophesied ...

, and

Jeremiah Jeremiah ( – ), also called Jeremias, was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition, Jeremiah authored the Book of Jeremiah, book that bears his name, the Books of Kings, and the Book of Lamentations, with t ...

plus several otherwise unknown people whose talents far exceeded those of the world's pivotal figures, but who were never famous on Earth. As Stormfield proceeds through Heaven he learns that the conventional image of angels as

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

ed, white-robed figures bearing

halo HALO, halo, halos or haloes may refer to: Most common meanings * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head * ''Halo'' (franchise), a sci-fi video game series (2001–2021) Arts and en ...

es,

harps The High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) is a high-precision Echelle grating, echelle planet-finding spectrograph installed in 2002 on the ESO 3.6 m Telescope, ESO's 3.6m telescope at La Silla Observatory in Chile. The First l ...

, and palm leaves is a mere illusion generated for the benefit of humans, who mistake "figurative language" for accurate description (the wings are part of their uniforms, and not functionally wings); that all of Heaven's denizens choose their ages, thus aligning themselves with the time of life at which they were most content; that anything desired is awarded to its seeker, if it does not violate any prohibition; that the prohibitions themselves are different from those envisioned on Earth; that each of the Earth-like regions of Heaven includes every human being who has ever lived on it; that families are not always together forever, because of decisions made by those who have died first; that white-skinned people are a minority in Heaven; that kings are not kings in Heaven ( Charles II is a comedian while Henry VI has a religious book-stand), etc.

Background

Although not published until 1907 in ''

'', followed by a slim book version with some revisions in 1909, the story was quite old. The original manuscript dated back perhaps as far as 1868, and an 1873 version has survived. The story was revised several times, and chapters 3 and 4 of the manuscript became the ''Harper's'' story.Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1
p. 31 (2010) Longer versions of the manuscript have subsequently been published, including one edited by Dixon Wector which appeared as part of ''Report from Paradise'' (1952), and in part 1 of ''Mark Twain's Quarrel with Heaven: "Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven" And Other Sketches"'' ( Ray B. Browne, ed., 1970). Twain claimed that the story in its early version was a satire of Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward's '' The Gates Ajar'', a very popular novel published in 1868.Baetzhold, Howard G. & Joseph B. McCulloch (eds.
The Bible According to Mark Twain
p. 130 (1995)

Cultural references

The story mentions several public figures who were widely known at the time of first publication, but are not as well known today. These include Moody and Sankey, Charles Peace, Thomas De Witt Talmage and Prince Gortschakoff.

Adaptations

Film versions

In the 1985

claymation Claymation, sometimes called clay animation or plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine cl ...

movie '' The Adventures of Mark Twain'', "Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven" is one of the many adapted works, however the plot of the adaptation is very different to the original story. In it we are introduced to Stormfield as he is contacted by Mark Twain. While Stormfield is chasing 'his own comet' Twain asks him where he is going to which Stormfield says he's going to

heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...

. He then lands head-first into a cloud with a door marked 'heaven' (which is more akin to the entrance of a

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

), and he is greeted by a blue, 3-headed, slug-like creature who asks him where he is from. When Stormfield says he is from

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

he is made fun of by the creature who mocks him for not understanding he meant what planet he was from. After some more misunderstandings the creature lets Stormfield into heaven but before he goes in he asks where his wreath, halo, hymnbook and palm branch are (all objects featured in stereotypical heaven descriptions) to which the creature tells him "Oh, trust me, you won't be conspicuous in this district without it". When he actually enters 'heaven' he is shocked and appalled to find out that everyone else is also one of the slug creatures and they partake in irreligious, immoral and degenerate acts such as drinking, smoking, raving etc. Stormfield leaves and comes to the realization that "A man has got to be in his own heaven to be happy". The slug creature agrees and tells him "Did you imagine that the same heaven would suit all sorts of people?". Stormfield then jumps to another cloud where he is met by

Saint Peter Saint Peter (born Shimon Bar Yonah; 1 BC – AD 64/68), also known as Peter the Apostle, Simon Peter, Simeon, Simon, or Cephas, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus and one of the first leaders of the Jewish Christian#Jerusalem ekklēsia, e ...

in front of the stereotypical

Pearly Gates ''Pearly gates'' is an informal name for the gateway to Heaven (Christianity), Heaven according to some List of Christian denominations, Christian denominations. It is inspired by the description of the New Jerusalem in : "The twelve gates were ...

who gives him all the items Stormfield expected. When Stormfield tries to talk he is constantly shushed by both Peter and the gates themselves. The segment ends with Twain saying "A harp, a hymnbook and wings? Good God, what a swindle. I'm led to consider a different path. Heaven for climate, hell for company."

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1907 short stories Short stories by Mark Twain Works originally published in Harper's Magazine Harper & Brothers books Fiction about comets Cultural depictions of Adam and Eve Cultural depictions of Moses Cultural depictions of Muhammad Cultural depictions of William Shakespeare Heaven in popular culture Cultural depictions of Homer Cultural depictions of Charles II of England Cultural depictions of Henry VI of England