Dishonesty In 'White Lies'

Lies. Often one of the most common "moral fallacies" of mankind, those who lie are often not trusted and are almost automatically accused of wrongdoings and crimes. Liars are seen as sitting on the throne of religious sins, and even in secular culture, those who are dishonest are often not valued as highly as those who are. Whether for self-preservation, or in the interests of others, there’s almost always a reason for a lie, and “White Lies” and “Salvation” not only shows us those reasons, but exhibits the benefits and disadvantages of dishonesty as well.

In the story “White Lies” by Erin Murphy, an albino girl is teased and harassed due to her appearance, for being the “differentest” (Murphy, 154) in the entire class. Without

With the support of her mother, she manages to uphold it and to provide the promised candies to her classmates, and she was never called out on the improbability of the fabrication she had created. With confidence, she continues the story, taking orders for her mother and herself to fill later in the day as Murphy remembers, stating:

I don’t know if I actually witnessed--or just imagined--Connie and her mother at the 7-Eleven one day after school. They were in the candy aisle. Her mother was filling a cardboard box. And Connie, bathed in unflinching fluorescence, was curved over her notebook making small, careful check marks. Without punishment or any form of negative ramifications, she continues guiltless, and panders to the whims of her classmate’s tastes. Connie wraps herself in a protective lie, and learns that untruths can be assets, which will likely lead to a more frequent use of them in the future. Connie isn’t guilty because the people who she lies to are malicious, and only her classmates, not her friends. They aren’t close to her by any means. Her mother doesn’t reprimand her, but helps her fulfill the lie. Though the lie only helps her for the short term-her fifth grade class-it helps her all the same, and she is able to move from the loneliness of ostracization to the loneliness of false popularity instead. Having fake friends is far better than having a gaggle of

Already dealing with feelings of shame and the loss of the hope of Jesus Christ, the heavy weight of guilt is pressing down on his shoulders as well, so heavily that it brings him to tears. Hughes says “..I was really crying because I couldn’t bear to tell her [aunt] that I had lied, that I deceived everybody in the church, that I hadn’t seen Jesus, and that now I didn’t believe there was a Jesus any more” (232). He lies to the aunt he loved and all the congregation of the church, and he knows deep inside him that it was wrong. Raised actively in the church, and with his deceit taking place within a church-a place where even non-religious people are wary to tell mistruths in-Hughes’ grew up with the knowledge that lying is sinful, and he believes what he had done was wrong, despite having done it so that everyone could leave. Unlike Connie, who deceives her classmates and bullies in fifth grade, Hughes lies to someone he loves very much. His lie is life-changing. He realizes that Jesus doesn’t exist, this amazing Lord and Savior that he had been raised to believe fervently