Analysis Of Mark Twain's 'The Lowest Animal'

The Essence of Humanness
On June 15, 2015, a shooting took place in Charleston, South Carolina. The person responsible for this tragic event is defined as a “hateful person” who attempted to separate a community. His actions demonstrate the “looseness” Mark Twain argues that man has in his morals. In his essay, “The Lowest Animal”, Twain claims that man is the bottommost animal because he contains a conscience that makes him aware of the rightness and wrongness of his actions. Twain also states that man is “not innocent”, unlike the “higher” animals, because he is “consciously” aware of whether or not his actions are moral. Humanity is defined as “the quality or state of being human”, however, “being human does not mean that an individual …show more content…
Hawthorne’s character, Dimmesdale, embodies this because “…his mind was darkened and confused by the very remorse which harrowed it; that, between fleeing as an avowed criminal, and remaining as a hypocrite, conscience might find it hard to strike the balance…” (Hawthorne pg. 301). For Dimmesdale, conscience projects the emotion of regret, which affects his decision making by causing him to be indecisive. His indecisiveness between a moral choice and an immoral choice affects his humanity by making it more defined. Hawthorne’s other character, Hester, shows this with “…no more smile with the household joy, nor mourn with the kindred sorrow; or, should it succeed in manifesting its forbidden sympathy, awakening only terror and horrible repugnance. These emotions, in fact, and its bitterest scorn besides, seemed to be the sole portion that she retained in the universal heart” (Hawthorne pg.126). Emotions such as guilt, sadness, anger, or even happiness all affect one’s decision. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the main character, Macbeth’s humanity is degraded throughout the play because of his actions. Twain positions that man has a defect and he “find[s] [it] to be the Moral Sense. He is the only animal that has it. It is the secret of his degradation. It is the quality which enables him to do wrong” (Twain pg. 7). Macbeth shows this “defect” as his humanity deteriorates as a …show more content…
Twain claims that “hypocrisy, envy, malice, cruelty, vengefulness, seduction, rape, robbery, swindling, arson, bigamy, adultery, and the oppression and humiliation of the poor and helpless in all ways have been and still are more or less common among both the civilized and uncivilized peoples of the earth” (Twain pg. 1). He argues that these actions are common between all humans and that they are aware of the wrongness of their actions, which causes a lack of morality. “During Ware II, a number of German physicians conducted painful and often deadly experiments on thousands of concentration camp prisioners without their consent” (Nazi Medical Experiments). A lack of morality is demonstrated through the Nazis actions because their actions demonstrate the “cruelty” that Twain claims man posses. “I suffered immense pain and cruelty from the experiments. They were inhuman…” (Ms. M). Twain also states “Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it” (Twain pg. 4). This is ascertained by those medical experiments because they were often dealy. “Each day I was submerged in hot water. Whenever I tried to put my head out of the water in order to breathe I was forced back into the water…He was enjoying himself. This lasted for 10 minutes” (Ms. G). A victim stated that the person responsible for these “inhuman” actions liked what