Chapter 56 Summary

This chapter has a little backtracking of the pilgrims, covering their journey out of Bethlehem, past the Damascus Gate and out of Jerusalem. Mark Twain quotes the writer of Life in the Holy land as calling the place "monotonous and uninviting," with which he readily agrees. He calls Palestine the prince of dismal scenery, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. He reviews each of the famous landmarks he'd visited, describing its drabness, poverty and misery. He ends his description with an assurance that this is how a cursed land should look.

Chapter 56 Analysis

There is no bitterness in Twain's description of Palestine. It is only a realistic viewpoint. While others may glamorize the land for its religious significance, it is, after all, a land of historic and religious misery, not greatness.