Henry Louis Mencken said, “It is hard to believe that a man is telling the truth when you know that you would lie if you were in his place.” Under most circumstances people in the world today would lie before they tell the true. I believe people would rather stretch the truth, than be honest with themselves and with others. Judith Ortiz Cofer, Nora Ephron, and Eric Schlosser, demonstrate honesty throughout their essays.
Cofer’s essay “The Story of My Body” is an autobiography focusing on her childhood; how she honestly felt about herself growing up. She was truthful about her skin color; she did not try to enrich her skin color to improve the essay. “White,” ”blanca” is what Cofer was identified as in Puerto Rico growing up (Cofer 324). Being different growing up is difficult and intimidating, but she was honest with herself and accepted who she was. Cofer was honest about her size “I was 4F, skinny, short, bespectacled” is how Cofer honestly explains her stature, and honestly tells the readers that her nickname was “shrimp” (326, 327). Being honest, lead Cofer to realize she had knowledge, which is more important than achieving an A in physical education class. This allowed her to discover who she was, which helped her become an honest person. Finally, Cofer’s honesty about her “looks” helps portray a picture of confusion of growing up. In Puerto Rico she was “rewarded for being bonita, pretty,” but in “main stream world of school” she was just “presentable” (Cofer 328, 329). Being honest with herself allowed her to represent her class, she did not over dress; she dressed “neatly” (Cofer 329). Her honesty throughout her childhood, allowed her to become the type of person she is today.
Ephron’s essay “The Boston Photographe...
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...e bacteria’s have made it across America in their foods (Schlosser 496). The advertisement of large corporations “aggressively market to children” and children can be affected by contaminated meat easier than an adult (Schlosser 496). The rise of the fast food corporations has honesty began the devastation of economic decline in the United States.
Honesty can be hard to find in someone, the fact is people will lie before telling the truth. It is difficult to understand that the honesty in a novel or article can be more entertaining than a fictional tale. The three essays by Judith Ortiz Cofer, Nora Ephron, and Eric Schlosser, portrayed how honesty overcomes dishonesty. Writing about personnel events in life, or about a company destroying America, or even how other people become angry with something you have done, it is still the best policy to be honest.
Traditionally, it is agreed that any and every form of telling the truth is always the best thing to do. In the essays of Stephen L Carter and Stephanie Ericsson, this ideal is not exactly true. It is expressed in "The Insufficiency of Honesty" as well as "The Ways We Lie" that honesty is hard to come by and that there is more to it than believed. The authors convey their views by first defining what the concept is, picking it apart, and then use common occurrences for examples of the points they had made.
Richard Gunderman asks the question, "Isn 't there something inherently wrong with lying, and “in his article” Is Lying Bad for Us?" Similarly, Stephanie Ericsson states, "Sure I lie, but it doesn 't hurt anything. Or does it?" in her essay, "The Ways We Lie.” Both Gunderman and Ericsson hold strong opinions in regards to lying and they appeal to their audience by incorporating personal experiences as well as references to answer the questions that so many long to confirm.
As children we are taught to always tell the truth in every situation. Catchy clichés such as "the truth will set you free" are used to reinforce honesty in our minds. However, is it possible that lying can further your success in life, more so than honesty? Literary evidence seems to support this. Even the Bible offers stories of lying and cheating without consequence. Three literary works–the book of Genesis, William Shakespeare’s Othello, and Sir Walter Ralegh’s poem The Lie–offer support that, perhaps, the truth is not always what it’s cracked up to be.
In the essay “How the Americans Understand the Equality of the Sexes” written by Alexis de Tocqueville and the personal narrative “The Story of My Body” written by Judith Ortiz Cofer, both authors compare some social values from their hometown to those of America. In his essay, the European author Alexis de Tocqueville goes to America to examine the social position of American women and compares the equality of sexes between the two countries. From his observation, he concludes that unlike the status of women in Europe, American women are morally and intellectually equal as men despite the difference of their gender roles. His target audience may probably be some elder people since young readers may find his assumptions antiquated as his essay has been written for nearly two centuries. Similarly, in “The Story of My Body,” Ortiz Cofer, who is born in Puerto Rico, describes how people see her differently when she moves from Puerto Rico to America. She subdivides her personal story into four sections: “Skin,” “Color,” “Size,” and “Looks” to clearly narrate her personal experiences. Ortiz Cofer’s story makes connection with a diversity of readers as many of the readers probably have some similar experiences like hers. Although both authors use comparison as strategy, Ortiz Cofer is more successful in drawing readers’ attention and convincing them of her point of views through her personal narrative, while Tocqueville’s use of his observation without legitimate evidence is less successful in persuading readers of his position.
An abundant amount of people would say they try to contain honesty, however, we are all liars, no matter how hard we try. Because of the pressure from society, we all are forced to make ourselves look and feel satisfactory with the rest of society. This is not just considering students in a school setting, but also parents and those at home. My cousin
Richard Gunderman and Stephanie Ericsson each have written a piece explaining the impacts of lying on society. In Gunderman’s article, “Is Lying Bad for Us?” he outlines the health effects of lying, and how there are serious “mental and physical consequences,” (Gunderman 1). Ericsson’s essay, “The Ways We Lie,” focuses more on the different types of lying, and how each has a different impact. Although Gunderman’s and Ericsson’s pieces of literature both relate to the negative impacts of lying, their different thoughts of how lying impacts society, including types, health, and solutions, outweigh their similarities.
American writer and speaker, Dorothy Allison, once said “things come apart so easily when they have been held together by lies” (Allison). One of the first lessons that kids are taught is to be honest and always tell the truth. Being honest is not always easy, but the result of lying is much worse then telling the truth. In Animal Farm, George Orwell demonstrates how lies and deceit will ruin society if everyone always believes what the leader says, people lie to themself, and if laws are changed to benefit the group in power.
Meatpacking has become the most dangerous job in America. Unlike poultry plants, in which almost all tasks are performed by machines, most of the work in a slaughterhouse is done by hand. Hazards of the job include injuries from the various machines and knives, strain to the body from poor working conditions, and even methamphetamine use in order to keep up with the production line. Women face the added threat of sexual harassment. This chapter opens with an anecdote about the largest recall of food in the nation’s history. In 1997 approximately 35 million pounds of ground beef was recalled by Hudson Foods because a strain of E Coli was found in the food. However, by the time the beef was recalled, 25 million pounds had already been eaten. Schlosser notes that the nature of food poisoning is changing. Prior to the rise of large meatpacking plants, people would become ill from bad food in small, localized arenas. Now, because meat is distributed all over the nation, an outbreak of food poisoning in one town may indicate nation-wide epidemic. Every day in the United States, 200, 000 people are sickened by a food borne
In our society there excites a general feeling of distrust. We live in a culture of false advertising and as a result we don’t know who we can trust. People are constantly afraid that the government, corporations and media, are lying to them. Stephen L. Carter’s article The Insufficiency of Honesty, captured my attention because it addressed this issue at its core and left me contemplating the issue of integrity vs. honesty. Currently, there is an outcry for honesty. But in truth honesty is not enough and not quit what we are looking for. Honesty is often used to deceive, to induce harm and to avert blame. What people are really searching for is integrity. Carter’s article address the difference between honesty and integrity and how honesty can be used dishonestly. He also discussed how long held beliefs effect our perception of honesty. All of these factors affect how we view our society and add to our feelings of mistrust.
In society, some people are looked at as liars or “bullshitters,” as stated in the article, “Is Lying Bad for Us?” Honesty is not always the best policy, and in certain situations, liars are best not to tell the truth when protecting the innocent, or protecting oneself. Because of this, lying should be looked at as a standard in society and something that people recognize in every day life.
Recently lying has become a very disregarded subject. However, no matter how much recognition it gets, it continues to give people the same uneasy feeling. Most people are taught at a very young age that lying is wrong, immoral, and frowned upon by society. Of course no one wants to do something seen as wrong, immoral, and frowned upon. Therefor it begs the questions; why is lying wrong? Why is it considered immoral? Why is it frowned upon by society? To answer these questions, we must first understand why we lie, the different types of lies, and the personal consequences that accompany lying. There are two profound articles that focus on these topics. We will be analyzing Stephanie Ericsson’s The Ways We Lie, as well as Richard Gunderman’s
Ericsson argued that “telling the truth all the time is nearly impossible” (159). Lies are part of everyday life, like drinking coffee for breakfast. For Barkley, lies became a stifling part of his life. The two authors explained how lies can impact a society.
Stephanie Ericsson’s The Ways We Lie, analyzes and reflects on how lying has simply become the norm in our society. We all lie, there is not one person in the world that does not lie. Most people lie because they are afraid of telling the truth, however what they do not know is telling a lie can lead them in the wrong direction because many things can happen when lying to a person. The person can find out when everything unravels that person will not have trust in you and you would be known as a liar. To every action there is a consequence, so why not deal with just one consequence when telling the
Lying is an issue that has been debated on for a long time. Some people believe that lying is sometimes ok in certain circumstances. Some people believe lying is always acceptable. In contrast, some believe lying is always bad. Keeping all other’s opinions in mind, I believe that lying is a deficient way of solving problems and is a bad thing. I claim that only certain situations allow the usage of lies and that otherwise, lying is bad. Dishonesty is bad because it makes it harder to serve justice, harms the liar individually, and messes up records. Furthermore, it should only be said to protect someone from grave danger.
I do not know of anyone who wants to be known as Pinocchio, the wooden boy who lies and in a result, makes his nose grow bigger. As an old proverb says, honesty is the best policy. I agree with being honest at all times. First, telling the truth to me, is always the right thing. When I catch someone in a lie, I just think to myself, what has come up of this world? A person’s truths and lies prove who that person is, and what that person is capable of. Second, people can earn a great deal of respect and trust from telling the truth. Now, people trust their “gut feeling”, but someone’s “gut feeling” should always be truthful. Respect is something that is earned, and at sometimes, given to people who do the things that they are supposed to do for themselves and for others. Last, most people were taught to tell the truth at a very young age. A truth is