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The Lie Vonnegut Analysis

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A Lie Learned For Next Time
One theme demonstrated in Kurt Vonnegut Jr’s. short story, “The Lie” is procrastination can lead to worse and more serious situations. Eli, a young boy, is pressured by his parents to get into Whitehill, a school for academically surpassing boys. Unfortunately, Eli finds out he failed the exam when his results come back in the mail. So, Eli rips up the letter and throws it away as soon as possible. Eli keeps procrastinating by not telling his parents he failed the test throughout the story. As a result, the situation gets more and more unpleasant when his parents find out, later on, at Whitehill, right after they have driven all the way there.
On the way to Whitehill, Eli is still holding off on telling his parents …show more content…

When Doctor Warren, the headmaster of Whitehill, talks to Eli’s parents, he is uncomfortable, so it says in the text, “‘Good, good,’ said Doctor Warren absently. He fidgeted looked again in the direction in which Eli had disappeared.” Doctor Warren sent the letter to Eli’s address so he did not have to tell Eli and his parents in person that Eli did not make it into Whitehill. But when Doctor Warren has to tell Eli’s parents Eli did not get into Whitehill, he fidgets nervously. Under those circumstances, Eli’s father, Doctor Remenzel decides- “‘I’m going to see how quickly people can change their minds around here’” Later Doctor Remenzel tries to talk to the chairman of the board to convince them to get Eli into Whitehill, but Doctor Remenzel fails and goes back to Sylvia and Eli defeated. Eli managed to make it harder on Doctor Warren, Doctor Remenzel, Sylvia, the chairman of the board, and himself just because he ripped up the letter of notice and didn’t tell his parents who had to find out, the hard way.
As can be seen, Eli’s procrastination doesn’t do himself much good. Eli makes the trip difficult to Whitehill when he is slouched, and his father repeatedly yells at him for it. Not only that, but when Eli and his parents arrive at the school, Doctor Warren has to explain that Eli did not get into Whitehill while Eli runs off. Then to seal the fiasco, Eli’s dad tries to force the chairmen to let Eli in to the school, humiliating himself and the Remenzel family. Eli now knows for next time that breaking the bad news to your parents early on is way better than waiting until the very end, making things

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