Humans Do Not Ascend From Lower Animals Summary

At the start of his essay, Twain asserts that humans did not ascend from lower animals, but rather descended from higher animals. He explains that he came to this conclusion after conducting scientific experiments that compared the nature of humans and animals. Twain first explains that he saw in his study that while an anaconda only kills what it needs, the earl is cruel and kills many more animals than he uses. Similarly, some people have more money that they would ever need but still desire more. Animals, on the other hand, just accumulate enough for the winter. Furthermore, humans are the only beings that have a desire for revenge. They invented indecency and are the only animals that believe in its existence. Additionally, humans are the only beings that engage in war, slavery, nationalism, and land ownership. They believe in
Twain uses this idea and the fact that humans have trouble with simple tasks such as being friendly to one another to demonstrate how they are foolish and unreasoning. He explains that in one of his experiments he confined people from different religions into a cage and they all killed each other because of their theological disagreement. For these reasons, Twain believes that humans cannot even rank with the lowest of the Higher Animals. People’s moral sense is what gives them the ability to do wrong and prevents them from being at the level of the Higher Animals. In the end, Twain restates his conclusion that humans have degenerated so far that there is no animal that is below them.
Twain’s essay satires the greed, cruelty, and affinity for destruction that only humans hold. I believe that his argument is well reasoned and agree with his overall argument that it is shameful that humans carry such sins that even