As he Sees Himself

As he Sees Himself by Samuel M. Crothers

The narrator, returning from a long Commencement Day, finds a visitor awaiting him: a polished, educated forger who openly declares his criminal history before requesting a loan to support his reform. During their conversation, the man explains forgery, criticizes prisons and reformers, and attributes his misfortunes entirely to Society. He refuses the idea that he bears any personal responsibility. Though he insists he would never steal, he defines stealing as petty theft and despises sneak thieves; forgery and check-raising, in his view, are skilled contests between experts. When asked how his manipulation of a small check differs from large financial operations, he leaves the narrator unable to give an immediate answer and never returns. The narrator sees in the forger a man protected by a self-consistent moral system that leaves no room for remorse. His intended reform seems prompted not by conscience but by legal inconvenience. This type of criminal, the narrator argues, is more difficult to portray than fictional rogues because he does not suspect himself or recognize his own corruption. As a fuller example, the narrator turns to Stephen Burroughs, whose autobiography presents a man serenely convinced of his own virtue despite a career of desertion, deception, counterfeiting, false preaching, imprisonment, and failed schemes. Burroughs, the son of a clergyman, rejects inherited merit and claims that worth belongs solely to the individual. He writes confidently on education, morality, liberty, and happiness while treating his own setbacks as the results of others’ errors, persecution, or defective institutions. At Dartmouth, he blames an overly pious room-mate and hostile faculty for his expulsion. After serving at sea, he returns home discouraged by damaging rumors but soon restores his spirits. He expresses regret over joining a raid on a farmer’s beehive, treating this as a clearer offense than later counterfeiting. He rationalizes counterfeit money by arguing that value depends on public belief and that increasing the supply of cash benefits the community. His resulting imprisonment becomes further proof, to him, of public ingratitude. Driven from Hanover with little money, Burroughs decides that preaching offers a practical career. Wearing conspicuous clothes and using an assumed name, he recalls sermons, preaches successfully in Ludlow, and secures a ministry in Pelham. He becomes popular, particularly for funeral sermons, while also learning counterfeiting. When his identity and past are exposed, Pelham turns against him. He admits uneasiness about having preached under false pretenses, yet convinces himself that he sought only necessities and had a right to preach if people wished to hear him. Pursued by townspeople, he threatens them with a stone; the conflict is settled in a tavern, where drink is provided as compensation for salary already advanced. Through later imprisonments and misfortunes, Burroughs continues to surround his conduct with elevated sentiment, poetry, and arguments about liberty. Even his attempted burning of a jail becomes associated in his mind with literary feeling. He regards himself as a misunderstood benefactor and believes he should patiently enlighten his persecutors. When a congressman, Mr. Niles, responds to his appeal for money with advice about economy rather than immediate aid, Burroughs feels desperate indignation until three dollars restores his composure and his faith in humanity. The narrator concludes that Burroughs does not commit evil for its own sake; instead, he continually diverts attention from his actual conduct toward his own supposed virtues and injuries. He has eliminated personal responsibility and judges right and wrong by whether an action preserves his comfort of body and mind. Such imperturbable egotism is presented as the most resistant criminal condition: kindness confirms the offender’s self-regard, punishment makes him a martyr, and reasoning only sharpens his self-defense. Though reformers may despair of changing such a person, they must continue trying, even if they cannot yet say what effective remedy exists.

By Samuel M. Crothers · First published 1914 · Genre: Essay, Satire, Humorous Literature · 6,133 words

First lines

The exercises of Commencement Day had been unusually interesting, though prolonged. I had attended them all. I had listened to the wisdom of the selected members of the graduating class, and afterwards to the less dignified but more optimistic remarks of the old graduates. The general impression that I received was that though the country had been in danger, the worst was over.

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literary essay · satirical prose · criminal psychology · forgery · counterfeiting · check fraud · self-deception · moral responsibility · egotism · criminal reform · prison criticism · social reform

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