The Virtual Coffeehouse

Teufelsdrockh, while on his quest toward psychological recovery, questions the point of war when he asks, "What, speaking in quite unofficial language, is the net-purpose and upshot of war?"(1013). He thereby details the essential pointlessness of war and notes that most wars seemingly begin over a silly falling-out between two men of opposing sides who, instead of dealing with it themselves, enlist the services of stupid men who will kill for them, thus resulting in hundreds of preventable deaths. Teufelsdrockh notes that, as legend hold, an era of peace will soon come, but until then, "what blood-filled trenches, and contentious centuries, may still divide us!" (1014).