The Ways We Lie

The Ways We Lie

Lying is used everyday, in fact, it is being used so often that people do not even realize that they themselves are lying. It is like an instinct, and humans have been so used to lying that “...none of which I felt the least bit guilty about (Ericsson 1).” Lying may be used in many different purposes, however, no matter how someone tries to explain or cover up the reasons he or she lies, the person who is lied to will most likely get suspicious, therefore, not trusting him or her anymore. The person who lied will eventually lose something, which supports the idea humans have always been wondering, “When someone lies, someone losses.”

As indicated before, no matter what reasons lead a person to lie, that person will eventually experience loss. In the novel East of Eden by John Steinbeck, Cyrus, the father of Adam and Charles loss the respect from his sons because of lying and stealing money from the GAR. Immediately after Cyrus dies and the truth has been revealed, Cyrus loses his respect, and all his reputation comes crashing down in Adam and Charles’ minds, “Charles moved his lips to form the question in advance. ‘Do you think it would be possible for our father to be--dishonest (Steinbeck 65)?’” Albeit Adam reveals that he trusts Cyrus, however, deep down inside, he knows that his father lied and stole to get that extra fortune. Charles clearly shows that he does not trust Cyrus, however, because he has always loved Cyrus, he does not want to expose his father’s crimes to the GAR. Even though the brothers do not want to uncover Cyrus’s crimes, his reputation and their respect for him all vanished in a sudden moment. Although Cyrus is already dead at that point of the novel, he has been crowned the name of a liar and thief in the brothers’ minds. The sudden loss of respect unearths the idea that the person lying will always experience in some manner. In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hester Prynne, the main character of the story, suffers in a great extent because of her crime and her lies. She has to wear the Scarlet Letter to show everyone the sin that she has made, “Thus she will be living sermon against sin, until the ignominious letter be engraved upon her tombstone (Hawthorne 59).” As an outset, everyone in her society views her differently, and she is treated negatively as well. A sudden drop from a normal life into a life which everyone looks down her is an extensive loss that almost nobody wants to experience. Even though she can reveal her lover, she chooses to suffer alone and refuses to tell the society who her other half is. By telling the public that she has a lover but refusing to tell who her lover is, Hester uses omission, which “involves telling most of the truth minus one or two key facts whose absences changes the story completely (Ericsson 4).” Omission not only causes Hester to have a painful life, but it also leads Dimmesdale’s life to be miserable as well. Because Hester refuses to reveal who her lover is, Dimmesdale cannot publically love Hester, causing him to have no family that he can live and love for. With no family, Dimmesdale eventually only believes that death can ease his pain and crimes. After Dimmesdale’s suicide, Hester becomes more miserable because she does not have a husband and lover. These events lead to an ultimate tragedy that might have been altered if the event was delivered another way from the beginning.

Some people lie because they think they have a valid reason for lying, such as protecting the person that is being lied to. In the novel East of Eden, Adam lies to his two twins, Aron and Cal, that Cathy, their mother, has ascended to heaven. The reality is that Cathy is a whore, and Adam wants to protect his children from having a sorrowful childhood. However, paper cannot cover fire, and the secret will eventually be revealed. Cal, who is less innocent than Aron, finds out the truth first, and tells Aron about his suspicions. Even though