This makes perfect sense to me.  

Forgive me for stating the obvious, but it's my specialty: I've always assumed the phrase "person sitting in darkness" was ambiguous, referring traditionally to the "heathen" but also, ironically, to the reader, who may not be aware (or sufficiently outraged) at the atrocities of imperialism done under the guise of Christianity.  Referring to the reader requires use of the singular. 

__________________________________________
Stanton Nesbit



-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Twain Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sharon McCoy
Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2012 10:09 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: MT, the KJV, and Matt. 4:16

I've no idea which Bibles Twain read, but the phrasing "people sitting in the darkness," "sinners [or heathens] sitting in the darkness," or a "heathen world sitting in the darkness" was pretty common in 19th century sermons and theological writings, ranging throughout the century (even Mary Baker Eddy uses it--don't recall whether Twain's critique of her engages that phrase or not, though).  


You can find a number of examples by doing an Advanced Search in Google Books online, limiting it to pre-1900.  I imagine that Clemens would have heard the phrase throughout his life.  Why he might choose, rhetorically, to narrow it to a single person, is of course open to interpretation of its impact.

Cheers,
Sharon





________________________________
From: Harold Bush <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Wed, April 18, 2012 8:13:13 PM
Subject: MT, the KJV, and Matt. 4:16

Folks;  I'm attempting to explain some things about MT's "To the Person Sitting in Darkness," and I guess I should have figured this out years ago,
but:

Why did he use that exact phrasing?  Everyone recognizes he alludes to Matt. 4:16:  King James Version (KJV) which reads:

The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.

This verse in Matthew alludes to Isaiah 9:2 :

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

Both are from the KJV (sidenote:  I've always assumed MT read, and used, the KJV).  I have checked all the other translations and none of them at that time used "sitting."

(More arcane = why the Hebrew Bible quote says "walked," NT says "sat"; why switch it up from walking to sitting?  (some commentators suggest the change to "sat" makes their conditions even more desperate; Anyway that is true textual hairsplitting)

the questions I really have are:

Why change the "people which sat" to "the person sitting"?  I guess to bring it up to date??  To personalize it even more??

More generally:  I wonder now that I think of it, about the element of directly addressing this "person," and the rhetorical strategy of that form of address:  how and why did he choose that title and method?
Even more generally: is it basically the case the we should always assume MT's reading was always in the KJV, and his use of and references to the Bible are based on the KJV?  Seems like common sense, but the Revised Version did come out in the 1880s, (1881 I believe), making a fairly big splash in fact.

thanks, --hb

--
Harold K. Bush, Ph.D
Professor of English
Saint Louis University
St. Louis, MO  63108
314-977-3616 (w); 314-771-6795 (h)
<www.slu.edu/x23809.xml>

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