The Facts Concerning a Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut by Mark Twain
Summary
Mark Twain's story is about a man who comes into contact with his conscience. While waiting for his aunt to visit him, there is a knock at his door. When he answers it, he is surprised to see a little man covered in mossy green hair. The mossy man begins accosting him over a recent meeting with a woman whom he had lied to. As the conversation between the two continues, the man learns that the mossy man is his conscience. No one but the man can see the conscience and he and the conscience argue about moments in his life. When the aunt finally arrive, the man is grateful to find that his conscience is weighed to the floor and become immobile with guilt because his aunt has begun to scold him about a girl he was to be caring for. As the conscience is subdued by guilt, the man jumps on it and strangles it until it is dead. After the death of his conscience, the man embarks upon an evil rampage.
Interpretation
Themes that I identified would be in terms of a moral lesson. I liked that Twain referred to a conscience that was so small that it cared for nothing and in contrast, the conscience that was so large that it made the man fear everything he did was wrong. A moral lesson that might come from this story might be that a person should not inhibit their conscience. Another theme that seems to be at play is that there needs to be a balance between the good and the bad otherwise one will take over the other in an unhealthy way. I can see the story as psychological in terms of the balance between what feels good and what reason deems good. Morally the story is telling the reader the results of a conscience that is not listened too, or removed completely, and what becomes of the man. Psycologically, the story is a struggle for power within the man's head, between his ID and Ego, which echoes morality and the morality of the person. A man that ignores his conscience will not be a morally good person, and a man that removes his conscience will be completely amoral. The psychological aspect aside, the story is about morals.
Mark Twain's story is about a man who comes into contact with his conscience. While waiting for his aunt to visit him, there is a knock at his door. When he answers it, he is surprised to see a little man covered in mossy green hair. The mossy man begins accosting him over a recent meeting with a woman whom he had lied to. As the conversation between the two continues, the man learns that the mossy man is his conscience. No one but the man can see the conscience and he and the conscience argue about moments in his life. When the aunt finally arrive, the man is grateful to find that his conscience is weighed to the floor and become immobile with guilt because his aunt has begun to scold him about a girl he was to be caring for. As the conscience is subdued by guilt, the man jumps on it and strangles it until it is dead. After the death of his conscience, the man embarks upon an evil rampage.
Interpretation
Themes that I identified would be in terms of a moral lesson. I liked that Twain referred to a conscience that was so small that it cared for nothing and in contrast, the conscience that was so large that it made the man fear everything he did was wrong. A moral lesson that might come from this story might be that a person should not inhibit their conscience. Another theme that seems to be at play is that there needs to be a balance between the good and the bad otherwise one will take over the other in an unhealthy way. I can see the story as psychological in terms of the balance between what feels good and what reason deems good. Morally the story is telling the reader the results of a conscience that is not listened too, or removed completely, and what becomes of the man. Psycologically, the story is a struggle for power within the man's head, between his ID and Ego, which echoes morality and the morality of the person. A man that ignores his conscience will not be a morally good person, and a man that removes his conscience will be completely amoral. The psychological aspect aside, the story is about morals.
powered by performancing firefox
posted by Adam Bruns at
8:50 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home