Effects of False Appearances

Effects of false appearances

Appearances can be seen as impressions given by someone else. Perception plays a big part on how appearances are misleading. In The Imposter Bride, by Nancy Richler, Yanna’s perception of herself and the Kramer family’s perception of her lead to the destruction of their lives. In Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, Pi creates a false appearance which helps him cope with the tragedy he endures. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey, the main characters create false appearances to hide their true intentions. The novels show that false appearances lead to psychological problems. The psychological problems caused by false appearances are regret, loss of identity and lack of self-worth.

Regret is a psychological consequence of deception that alters the conduct of the affected characters, to a great extent. For many characters it is challenging to see through Yanna’s false appearance, but that was not the case for Sol. Sol “saw, a broken life, a frightened woman, a marriage that would bind him-however briefly-to grief” and therefore, regrets, agreeing to marry Yanna (Richler 7). Sol’s consent for marriage to Yanna causes him greater regret as his brother’s and niece’s lives are ruined as a result of this arrangement. Yanna pretends to be a loving mother and wife but truly she is not. Years later, when Ruth finally meets her mother Yanna, she finds out that her mother is also apologetic for the way her false appearance affected her first family. Ruth says that, “she had told them about me, finally she had begged for their forgiveness and understanding for her long kept secret and asked them to bring me to her side” which shows Yanna’s repentance for hiding the truth from her new family (Richler 352). It a...

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...up for what he believes which causes him to have a lack of self-worth.

In the process of creating false appearances people do not realize the accompanied negative consequences. False appearances lead to psychological problems. Regret, loss of identity and lack of self-worth are the psychological outcomes for the characters in response to false appearances. The characters feel regret because false appearances lead to regrettable actions that have negative consequences. When the false appearances in characters are favourable it leads to the loss of the character’s identities. Also false appearances change the perception of what characters think of themselves it leads them to a lack of self-worth. Thus, life built on weak foundations of false appearances is destined to crumble when encountered with the harsh truth making the lives of the affected individuals miserable.