Does Telling a White Lie Really Protect Anyone?
It is almost inevitable to lie, at one point or another in your life we have all lied. Weather it was a white lie to protect someone or, a selfish lie to protect yourself. When telling a white lie are you truly protecting them or shielding them form the realities inevitable turn of events.
In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne; Bruno’s mother doesn’t disclose as to what his father does for a living. This becomes an issue when Bruno comes home one day to find the house maid in his room packing all of his belongings. Then comes to the realization that something is wrong. When Bruno confronts his mother about it she explains that they are moving because of his father’s job. To Bruno this is ridiculous because he doesn’t know what his father does, yet after telling Bruno why they are moving she turns to him and says “[it’s] your father’s job. . . you know how important it is, don’t you?” (Chapter 1, Page 16). All Bruno really knows is
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According to Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life by Sissela Bok ". . .white lies do no harm. . .” (V, White Lies, Harmless Lying, paragraph 4) and that “Many small [and] subterfuges [that] may not even be intended to mislead” (V, White Lies, Harmless Lying, paragraph 2). Although the characters in The Boy in The Striped Pajamas and Freak the Mighty lied with good intentions to protect one another from something, yet there lies failed. In The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, the mother and father lie to their son Bruno. Not telling him what his father did for a living or what the concentration camps were, didn’t protect him from it but caused him to further investigate to see for himself what was going on. This lie that his parents continually told him did not protect him it ended up killing him when exploring the concentration camp and in the end put in a gas chamber and never found again by his
Some people seem to tell lies for one of two reasons -- to protect themselves or to protect others. In the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time both motivations occur: Christopher simply does not lie; his dad, however, concocts a huge lie in order to protect his son.
Have you ever told a lie to protect yourself or someone you love? People lie for their own purposes. Some people lie for themselves or for their close one. They depend on the lies so much that they do not care that their lies might hurt others. In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, almost all the characters lie for their own desires and to protect their own interests. Even though lies are forbidden in their religion, some people are blind to understand the punishment of lying. The concept of lying to save oneself is also evident in “Fear Was Reason For Lying About Shooting, Woman Says” by Mary Spicuzza. The article highlights how a woman hid the truth about witnessing a murder just for the sake of her own life. Another article, “The Truth
Ericsson's article is clearly about the way people lie, mainly whether the manner in which people lie to others is to make the other’s life easier or their own life easier. People lie every day, whether in simple white lies or more complex lies. Ericsson describes white lies, the most popular lies. She uses an example, how a friend told her another friend looked good when, in fact, she did not look good. People use these types of lies daily to avoid confrontation. “The liar deciding what is best for the lied to” (Ericsson #). Anyone can use them, children to parents, friend to friend, students to teachers, boyfriend to girlfriend, etc. A white lie is a good way to keep oneself out of trouble. Ericsson thinks white lies are so common because the truth is more dangerous than a simple lie. However, the lie may seem simple and part of daily life, but Ericsson points out that it is not always so simple. Telling a white lie may benefit to you in the short term, but if for a...
Is it okay to lie in order to protect oneself? What about if it puts someone else at risk? In “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller, a group of girls conjure spirits in the woods and then tell a series of lies in order to cover up their mistake. Many people die or get hurt because of their fibs and the truth is never revealed. Innocent lives are taken because these girls accuse them of witchcraft. Unresolved conflicts between people can have tragic results leading to unnecessary death, marriage conflicts, and town unraveling.
White lies are usually used to prevent the hurting of someone’s feelings. In The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Christopher’s father uses white lies to deceive Christopher without establishing more questions about Christopher’s mother's flee. In everyday life, people lie extremely often, causing it to be difficult to tell when someone is actually lying. According to Pamela Meyer, “Lying's complex. It's woven into the fabric of our daily and our business lives. We're deeply ambivalent about the truth...We're against lying, but we're covertly for it in ways that our society has sanctioned for centuries and centuries and centuries. It's as old as breathing. It's part of our culture, it's part of our history.”(Meyer 4:59) In fact, the reason behind Christopher believing his father’s lies is because they are familiar in a way. Ed lies to Christopher, because of habit more than to protect anyone. Although, Christopher’s father used mostly white lies to protect Christopher from the harsh truth, he does it because of the emotion that goes along with them. Even though Christopher has a difficult time showing emotion he becomes upset. According to Paul Ekman in Lying and Deception, “Lies are also betrayed by signs of emotions. The simplest case is one in which the liar attempts to convincingly fabricate an emotion that is not felt. Few people are very good at this, although most of the time people get away
Throughout history, there have been many noteworthy events that have happened. While there are many sources that can explain these events, historical fiction novels are some of the best ways to do so, as they provide insight on the subject matter, and make you feel connected to the people that have gone through it. An example of a historical fiction that I have just read is The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne, a story about the life of a German boy who becomes friends with a Jewish boy in a concentration camp during the holocaust. The author of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas portrays the historical period well,and uses many details from the real life holocaust to make his story more believable. This book is a classic, and is a very good look on how it feels to be living in Nazi Germany.
Although it is considered wrong to tell lies, it seems that literature has offered us situations where telling lies isn’t necessarily bad. Of course, lying often has a tragic outcome, but not always for the person or people who told the lie or lies. Oftentimes, these unfortunate outcomes are directed at the person about whom the lie was told. Furthermore, these stories have explained that dishonesty can result in success for both the liar and the target. Maybe we have been teaching the wrong values to our children.
First Ericsson discuss white lies, she describes white lies as when a person “assumes that the truth will cause more damage than a simple, harmless untruth” (Ericsson 181). A person decides that it is better to tell the lie rather than to tell the truth because of how they perceive the outcome will be. Ericsson believes that people should not use white lies because they’re “[deciding] what is best for someone else” (Ericsson 181). When people use white lies they’re assuming that what they are doing is good for the other person, even if they do not know for sure that the other person will benefit from not knowing. On the other hand in the book “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” by Mark Haddon, the main character, Christopher does not believe in lying but he uses white lies. Christopher says, “A white lie is not a lie at all. It is where you tell the truth but you do not tell all of the truth” (Haddon 48). In this situation, Christopher’s
In “The Farmer’s Children,” Elizabeth Bishop uses different literary techniques to portray her theme. “The Farmer’s Children” tells the story of two young brothers, Cato and Emerson, who have to sleep in the cold in their father’s barn in order to protect the tools inside. These brothers also have to endure parental neglect from their stepmother and father which causes them to freeze to death in the barn. One technique that is used by Bishop is the characterization of the parents. In addition, Bishop uses an allusion, which is a reference to a work of art in another work of art, and symbolism to further show how the characterization of the parents affected the two brothers. In “The Farmer’s Children,” Bishop uses the characterization of the parents of Cato and Emerson, the allusion to “Hansel and Grethel,” and the symbolism of the stepmother’s snowflake quilt to portray the theme of how parental neglect can lead to negative consequences.
Throughout the world, there are many artifacts ranging from Literature, Music, Social Media, Fashion, Toys, Technology, and many other ones. Every single one of these artifacts has a special meaning to them such as, the Statue of Liberty which represents freedom. The National Museum and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum both contain many different types of artifacts that represent our history, as well as sharing a special meaning that can affect a person individually or even shape our society. "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" was a book written by John Boyne, which should be considered an artifact in the Holocaust Memorial Museum or the National Museum, because it represents the history of the Holocaust, as well as by symbolizing
All of the people say lie or hide the truth. Maybe a kid tells a lie for wall painting, and I tell a lie to my teachers to justify why I did not finish my homework, and the religious leader tells a lie to his followers to sell a little bit more oil. The government tells a lie for National Security. It is important that we know all of us are some lair that is living together in peace and happiness. Moreover, at the moment that we are telling a lie to each other all of us have good morally reason to justify our lie. Vividly, all of us know the power of a lie and use it to save our superiority in different ways. I want to finish my lying with a quote of Winston Churchill who said: “ the lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get up pants
Imagine waking up on a normal day, in your normal house, in your normal room. Imagine if you knew that that day, you would be taken away from your normal life, and forced to a life of death, sickness, and violence. Imagine seeing your parents taken away from you. Imagine watching your family walk into their certain death. Imagine being a survivor. Just think of the nightmares that linger in your mind. You are stuck with emotional pain gnawing at your sanity. These scenerios are just some of the horrific things that went on between 1933-1945, the time of the Holocaust. This tragic and terrifying event has been written about many times. However, this is about one particularly fascinating story called The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne.
New Boy is a short film that envelops the viewer into a third person character and leads viewers to experience how it feels to be an outsider “The New Boy”, the audience experiences this feeling through the Protagonist 's mind in this case “Joseph.” This short film not only focuses on the idea of bullying but also the idea of being an outsider.The positioning of the title “New Boy” on the left-hand side of the frame indicates that the new boy will be powerless.
A protective lie is a type of white lie that is told to protect someone’s feelings for instance; yeah, those pants fit you great! One would say this because telling the truth would really offend the other person especially, if they were a close friend.
Secondly, it is okay to be untruthful if you are trying to protect people. In certain situations, it is safer, and more practical for you to tell a lie rather than putting a loved one in jeopardy. To illustrate you may be in a situation where you are in a serious or dangerous situation, and you do not what anyone else involved, to keep them safe. For example, if you are getting held up for ransom, would you tell the truth to a loved one and get them involved, or lie and keep them safe? The obvious answer is to keep them safe at all costs, even if it means lying. Also, you do not want to put someone in harm’s way, so it would be ...