Midget's Are Mean-Hunter Warren

Mark Twain's "Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut" uses humor in order to suggest, playfully, that not all forms of guilt are natural and healthy. As we laugh at the narrator killing his pester-some conscience and going on an insane rampage, we realize that a conscience is actually good for making people behave. Why does Mark Twain turn this message into a joke? `

In the beginning of the story Mark Twain saw a conscience as something that could be overlooked and pushed to the side when the situation arose. As a result, Twain was always bothered about his smoking problem by his aunt, but when people were bothered by his addiction he would just act as though nothing was really wrong with his actions and continue on with what he was doing. One day Twain's conscience knocks on his front door as a moldy dwarf in physical form. After letting him into the house and speaking with him, he finds out the truth of why this little man has come to see him. I find it ironic that Twain feels as though his conscience can be pushed to the side. However, when his conscience actually shows up he tries everything he can to push him to the side, but is still unable to do it. He has to kill his conscience in order to get him out of the house and out of his life. He tries to physically hurt the little dwarf, but he is unable to ward him away until nearly the end of the story. I also found it funny that Twain thought he was more powerful than his conscience, but it was obvious that his conscience was much more powerful that him. I feel as though Mark Twain turns this message into a joke because he realizes that he is very wrong in believing that a conscience can be just pushed to the side in time of guilt. In the end of the story he kills off his conscience which leaves him to do whatever he pleases to do without any ounce of guilt running through his veins. It shows that his conscience really did have a sense of ultimate power over himself. At the end of the story we learn that without a conscience you are more prone to do bad things and feel no remorse. Overall I feel as though Twain dumbly learns that a conscience keeps you in check rather than something you can just override. Because his conscience was on the verge of death, he was not able to completely ward off hurting other people, but his shriveling conscience did keep him from killing others as he did in the end. When his conscience is dead and he rampages on others, it is easily shown that a conscience Is a very important aspect to controlling ones behavior. In the beginning Twain saw this as something that was not important, which ironically shows Twain's ignorance though a physical form. Every bad act he committed put him one step closer to killing off his conscience and living a troubled life!