The Ripple Effect of Lies: Insights from The Crucible

There are always consequences for lying, whether it happens immediate or nebulous, a punishment will occur. Some lies cause other people to hurt that have nothing to do with the situation but still get punished. For example, someone stealing an answer key to an important test in class will make the class suffer by taking a much harder test. Another example is a basketball team having to run for a teammate’s lies. Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible is based on the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, and it proves this exact point.

In the play The Crucible, a group of girls were dancing and playing with witchcraft in the woods. While dancing all the girls were caught by Reverend Parris from the community. All the girls lied and swore all they did was

dance, to keep from getting in trouble. The main character, Abigail Williams, told all the girls not to admit the truth and to keep lying. Tituba was a black slave who was also in the woods with the girls. After she was beaten she cracked, and revealed the truth; she explained to everyone the she and the girls were in the woods playing with witchcraft. More girls started to come forward and tell the truth after Tituba broke the silence. However, the girls wanted to divert attention from themselves so they accused innocent people of also conjuring spirits. Nineteen innocent people were hanged on the testimony of the girls who lied.
That is an example of someone else’s sins causing someone else to suffer. Lying makes it so much harder for people to trust. Lying causes of loss of reputation, loss of trust, and destroys trust. It is also disrespectful, no one likes to be lied on nor lied to. From a personal perspective, being punished because of somebody else’s sins is not a great feeling. It makes one feel manipulated because of someone else’s sins, once trust is broken; it is twice as hard to get it back. Realizing that lying is a sin is part of a growing up experience that teenagers in high school should know by now.
Recently an English class was punished, not once but twice, because students decided to cheat. A group of students copied homework from answer keys online, making their teacher have no choice but to cancel the entire unit. However, the class had to have a certain number of grades so the teacher had to put together a packet for the students. In the packet was six different assignment that required more work than the first assignment did. The students complained about the consequences, but it seemed almost impossible for the students to understand plagiarizing is not the answer, because almost two weeks later the same class was in trouble for the same thing. Students were sneaking in the teacher’s room and finding her test. Although it was on camera, the student lied and the class had to suffer again. The teacher made a much harder test, and only one person passed it.
Cheating is unacceptable and lying about it is definitely unacceptable. As stated in Proverbs 12:22 “Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight.” There are always consequences for lying, whether it happens immediate or nebulous, a punishment will occur. Even if it’s a white lie, DON’T DO IT!