Fancy's Show-Box (From "Twice Told Tales")

"Fancy's Show-Box (From 'Twice Told Tales')" by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a story reflecting on morals, set in the Romantic era, about how guilt can affect a person's soul. The book asks deep questions about what it means when we want to do bad things but don't, and how much our conscience should judge us. The main character, Mr. Smith, looks like a good older man, but one night he gets a visit from Fancy, Memory, and Conscience. Fancy shows him pictures of the bad thoughts and almost-actions from his past that still bother him. Each picture makes him think hard about his conscience as Memory reminds him of his past. The story shows that even just thinking about doing wrong things can make us feel guilty, showing that feeling guilty and wanting to be better are part of being human, no matter how good we seem on the outside.