conscience – Ames seems to have a fairly distorted view of his own deeds at the outset of the narrative because he credits himself with having a conscience that keeps him from thieving during certain stages of his life. He is a habitual offender in every sense of the words. Although, he does seem to have a mind that occasionally betrays his misdeeds after having done them; he even says that his conscience made him return items he stole. He also expresses the his fear of his eternal sentence by saying that his conscience made him believe that his life was surely one that would lead him to the gates of Hell.
disobedience – Ames details the beginnings of his criminality by discussing his family life where he claims that his mother did as best she could to counsel him and encourage him to steer away from his path of disregard for her advice. He claims that he made her to believe that he would straighten up but he quickly fled from her watch in order to continue his acts of disobedience to any and everyone. “…I am now made to feel the anger of God against me, for my disobedience to my parent. ”
habitual – Ames resembles the majority of the criminal minds we learned about because of the fact that his temptations toward lustful desires seems to win out against all else. This leads to a life fraught with repitious acts of illwill towards others, utterly disregarding all sense of living with a moral code of conduct. Even while being fully aware of their actions these criminals often times seem incapable of quelling their urges to sin. Becoming trapped in the only type of lifestyle to which they are accustomed.