# The Reverend Doctor N⸺ Visits General Grant explained — The Autobiography of Mark Twain

> Chapter companion for The Autobiography of Mark Twain by Mark Twain.

## What happens

Twain recounts the nation's anxious vigil for the dying General Grant and critiques the Reverend Doctor N⸺, who was summoned to provide spiritual comfort but whose reported accounts of Grant's piety and flowery speeches Twain dismisses as fabrications. Col. Fred Grant confirms that while his father tolerated family prayers, he was not a praying man and never used such ornate language.

## Themes in this chapter

### Mortality and Loss

The chapter centers on General Grant's imminent death and the nation's collective grief.

### Hypocrisy and Human Nature

Twain exposes the Reverend N⸺'s embellished and self-serving reports of Grant's spiritual state.

## Character check-ins

### Mark Twain

Dictates the chapter and offers critical commentary on Reverend N⸺'s reports.

### Ulysses S. Grant

Lying near death; the nation awaits news of his passing; described as a plainspoken, good man who was not a praying man.

### Fred Grant

Col. Fred Grant informs Twain that his father was willing to have family prayers but was not a praying man.

## Key lines

> Thrice have I been in the shadow of the Valley of Death and thrice have I come out again.

Grant supposedly said he had been near death three times and survived each time.

_Twain dismisses this as a gaudy, fabricated quote that Grant, a plainspoken man, could never have uttered._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_autobiography_of_mark_twain_se/chapters/volume-i-the-reverend-doctor-n-visits-general-grant
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_autobiography_of_mark_twain_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_autobiography_of_mark_twain_se/chapters