Stephanie Ericsson The Way We Lie Analysis

The Ways We Lie by Stephanie Ericsson explains how everyone lies in this world, one way or another. Ericsson expresses the many ways people lie and why they do so. She educates her audience by describing the different types of lies told daily by sharing personal stories, asking rhetorical questions and creates hypothetical situations to support her statements. She begins with the white lie, which is a harmless lie instead of the truth, if the truth was bad news. Then she continues to explain a façade, changing your personality making people believe something you are not. She proceeds with explaining how deflecting is also a type of lying. She continues to explain omission, which is when you’re telling the truth, but leaving out important details.

Quote 1: “The public defender, trying to get him off, called him a dumb animal,” I told her. “He said it would be like tying a hog down in that chair and executing him-an animal that didn’t know what any of it was all about. The jury, twelve white men good and true still sentenced him to death.” (26)

Similar to Ericsson’s experience in her essay “The Ways We Lie”, telling the truth isn’t always possible. When a person receives a notification for a late fee, the first instinct is to find a way out of the situation with a lie. Knowing that the bill has yet to be paid, the lie is easier than facing the repercussions of the truth. According to Ericsson, “I discovered that telling the truth all the time is nearly impossible” (1). Here, Ericsson expresses that a lie may be the most appropriate response and that nobody can always tell the truth.

Lying has not been formally considered morally wrong or right regardless of the severity. Although it’s near impossible to go through a whole day without even stretching the truth once and decide which types of lies are okay or not. Stephanie Ericsson uses strong metaphors and personal experiences in “The Ways We Lie” to justify the use of our everyday lying. This unbiased essay will help readers decide whether it’s okay to lie on a daily basis.

In “The Way We Lie”, author Stephanie Ericsson gives her readers a list of ten lie we sometime use it for a purpose and sometime we did not realize we did it. She starts out her story with four lie she used in the same morning as she is starting out her day. She explains these lie are intentionally use to minimize the complications and make the day goes much smoother. However, she questions whether these lie can actually make an impact on the person who carry out and the person who receive the lie.

When it comes down to it the way you lie and the purpose behind your lies, are dependent on your moral and ethical values as an individual. Whether you are five years old or fifty years old, you have told a lie at some point in your life. Despite the inability of us humans to avoid lying, we all lie for different reasons. According to “ The Truth About Lying”, Judith Viorst believes in various types of lies such as protective lies, social lies, truth-keeping lies, and peacekeeping lies. In the very first sentence Viorst explained how difficult it was for her to write about this. “I’ve been waiting to write on a subject that intrigues and challenges me; the subject of lying. I’ve found it very difficult to do.” (Viorst,

Stephanie Ericsson begins her explorative essay, “The Ways We Lie,” with a personal anecdote of all the lies she fabricated in one day. She told her bank that a deposit was in the mail when it was not, told a client that the traffic had been bad when she was late for other reasons, told her partner that her day was fine when it was really exhausting, and told her friend she was too busy for lunch when she just was not hungry, all in the course of a day. She shifts from talking about herself to talking about everyone, claiming that all people lie, exaggerate, minimize, keep secrets, and tell other lies. But, like herself, most still consider themselves honest people. She describes a week in which she tried to never tell a lie; it was debilitating, she claims. Furthermore, telling the truth all the time has serious consequences. She postulates that lying, though a form of hedging, must have some merit. She cites a broad definition of a lie from Webster’s dictionary, and asserts that this definition includes many types of lying.

One reason, is lying can lead people in the wrong direction because it can make another person confused what to do. Someone is telling a friend directions to the park, but the person is just going back to your home to relax, while his friend is tries to figure where he is. He makes an excuse by telling him you are busy. Then, his friend gets betrayed so the friendship is ruined by him. In that example written, people can get trusted easily sometimes.

In the Ted Talk “How to Spot a Liar” By Pamela Meyer, She spoke about the tells of a liar and why people lie. Meyers had two truths, Truth #1 lying is a cooperative act. The lie has no power until the receiver believes the lie. Everyone who has been lied to has agreed to be lied too, for example when a lady asks her husband if she looks fat in a certain clothing item. Both he and she know that there is only one good answer to that question, the women just gave the man permission to lie to her. Meyer said “lying is an attempt to connect are wishes and our fantasies on who we are with we were and how we wish we could be with what we're really like” meaning, we lie to pretend to be someone we aren't. Then Meyer answered the question of when do we lie? A person can be lied to

In our society, many people assume that lying is something wrong to do; they use to say that you always have to tell the truth no matter the situation. I believe those people are certainly wrong because it is impossible for any human being to always tell the truth, Mark Twain said “Lying is universal—we all do it.” This world would be so bizarre if everyone would speak only the truth. It is just something that would never happen, but people are fooling themselves thinking that lying is wrong, that we must tell the truth always.

Dictionary.Com defines lying, as a false statement made with a deliberate intent to deceive; and intentional untruth; a falsehood. I believe lying is only acceptable to protect and care for others.

Do children deserve to be told the truth by their parents? Is it advisable to tell lies to children about situations that they do not completely understand? These questions have been contentious for a long time. Parents find it hard to weigh in how much truth they should reveal and how much information to conceal from their children. Some parents may hide crucial information such as divorce, disease, and other information as they see it as a means of protecting their children. Some parents may lie to their children because they look up to them, and they see it as disappointing their children if they know the truth (Bronson, 2008). With lying, they are not exposed to losing the trust of their children, and they see this as an easy route since

Many people have told lies and been told lies ,however the biggest lie of all is lying to oneself. Everyone has been told to share the truth because even though the truth will hurt others now, a carried out lie will hurt them a lot more in the future. It 's better to do right than to live in lies such as don 't hide all your faults they won 't just go away, you need to learn from your mistakes. In Les Miserables and The Kite Runner a man 's reputation is not as important as his family. As in giving up yourself for another and to be happy, like leaving your homeland where you are known and in charge to become a working man and make your family happy.

One of the most common types of misbehavior adolescent commits is lying. According to DePaulo and Kashy (1996), it is the act of making an intentionally false statement with the intention of decieving other people. It was supported by Gozna, Vrij and Bull (2001) that low-stakes lies are those that do not involve risk, and represent mundane dishonesty that is common- place in social interaction. In contrast, high-stakes lies involve risk in which the liar can gain or lose something of substantial magnitude such as lying about cheating on an exam is considered a high-stakes lie (Gozna 2001).

Though often times revealing the truth may cause more damage than good, it is only rarely true. Rather than achieving what is intended, all lies regardless of the size, create conflicts which in return result in irresolvable consequences like permanent distrust and an inability to sustain relationships. How would man live if he were only told lies and little truth?