Edward Bulwer-Lytton once wrote “a pen is mightier than a sword.” What he meant by that is that playing arm races create no progression for mankind, what would help is if people used their words. Conversation is one of the building blocks to civilization. Not only can words help all of humanity work together but it can help people maintain their mental health. When all goes wrong and it feels like there is no hope for your life, people can turn to stories. This was what Salman Rushdie was trying to get across when he wrote Haroun and the Sea of Stories. He uses fiction to represent real things, like the use of stories. Rushdie argues that stories are important because the provide an escape, expose truth, and entertain.
More often than not, life gets difficult, and stories can provide an escape. Throughout Haroun and the Sea of Stories, the phrase
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“what is the use of stories that aren't even true?” comes up a number of times (Rushdie 20). Every time the question is asked there is no direct answer, but every time a story is told, the magic that presents itself is why stories are told. Although everyone over the age of seven knows that magic is not real, we would all love to believe that it is. At the beginning of the story Haroun wonders what the point of stories are too but as he continues to see how happy people become upon hearing them he begins to understand. He says “that the real world was full of magic, so magical words could easily be real" (Rushdie 50). They pull you out of this world, that is full of hate and malice, and give the opportunity to hope, even if it is only for a short time, that everything will work out. Sometimes the only way of getting the truth across is by using fiction.
Telling people something that is not true is not a good idea, but occasionally it feels like the only option. In Haroun and the Sea of Stories people are constantly saying things that are not true, stories themselves are not true. Even Blabbermouth who is a brave hero, lies about her identity. She claims to be a boy even though she is not. She gets exposed after saving multiple lives, and she is still fired. She did not even try to fight it because she realized “no point pretending anymore” (Rushdie 183). She was like a story, she did so much good and showed the truth behind who she really is and covered it up by pretending to be a boy. Rashid was a very trusted person, even though his job was essentially to lie. It is said that “everyone had complete faith in Rashid, because he always admitted that everything he told them was completely untrue and made up out of his own head” (Rushdie 20). Everyone understood that he was not telling a true story and that they would never become real, but the meaning behind what he is saying is
true. As we grow older, our lives become more serious, stories can entertain us and bring us back to our roots. At the beginning of the book, Soraya leaves Rashid and Haroun. Before she left, Mr. Sengupta was trying to give Haroun and Rashid a reality check. He tried to explain that “life is not a storybook or joke shop. All this fun will come to no good” (Rushdie 20). What Mr. Sengupta did not realize, was that sometimes we should look at life a storybook or a joke shop. Not always, but on occasion, it is okay to take a step back from a serious and stressful lifestyle and just have fun. The problem was when Soraya left, it really hurt Rashid. He not only could not tell stories because he was too sad but he also lost some motivation because the women he loves thinks it is not a real profession. He got up on stage and could not tell a story, he no longer knew what to do. Haroun tried to talk to him, and get him to go back to normal. The big complication being, that both of them now had a doubt in their minds that storytelling is not a job. Rashid’s only response was “storytelling is the only work I know” (Rushdie 22) what he did not realize at the time is that storytelling is amazing ability. When Rashid appeared and could not tell a story, everyone became sorrowful. Stories were the highlight of everyone’s busy work day, and when they were not there everyone was sad and bored. The point Salman Rushdie was trying to make by writing this book is that stories are important. In the story he uses some very unrealistic examples, but the meaning is true. People get overworked as they get older and stories entertain them. Everyone gets upset at one point or another and stories can provide an escape. Again, every person has lied, but sometimes using fiction is the easiest and only way of exposing the truth. As we get older, we need stories even more than we used to, but nobody wants to hear “magical realism”. Rushdie argues that it is because “they think it’s just about fantasy. But the word realism is as important and what this kind of writing tries to do is to be grounded in the real” (Salman Rushdie: True Stories Don't Tell the Whole Truth. Big Think). Everyone could use a story in their life.
Although it is considered wrong to tell lies, it seems that literature has offered us situations where telling lies isn’t necessarily bad. Of course, lying often has a tragic outcome, but not always for the person or people who told the lie or lies. Oftentimes, these unfortunate outcomes are directed at the person about whom the lie was told. Furthermore, these stories have explained that dishonesty can result in success for both the liar and the target. Maybe we have been teaching the wrong values to our children.
A good story is one that isn't demanding, that proceeds from A to B, and above all doesn't remind us of the bad times, the cardboard patches we used to wear in our shoes, the failed farms, the way people you love just up and die. It tells us instead that hard work and perseverance can overcome all obstacles; it tells lie after lie, and the happy ending is the happiest lie of all. (85)
The society that we live in today is built around lies. Banks lying to customers in order to feed the capitalist mindset, politicians lying to citizens in order to gain power, and charities taking donations with open arms however are stingy when giving back to the cause. The common reason why these organizations lie is to hide what they truly are. People also deceive others in order to hide who they truly are. From a young age, lying becomes engraved into one’s mind, we are taught to walk, talk, and lie.
The people who claim that they do not lie are probably lying when they say it. Whether it is to deceive authority or just to play a joke on a friend, it is part of human nature to lie. In the novel The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jay Gatsby takes on a character of wealth and luxury. Gatsby wants to win back his love interest from five years ago, so he secretly becomes wealthy through owning an illegal drug business, using his abundance of money to impress her. In contrast, in Tobias Wolff’s “The Liar,” he tells a story of teenage James as he lies about his life to appear more fascinating. He lies not because he wants to, but because it comes naturally to him. Both stories convey people struggling to find the purpose of their
People are afraid that they will be judged for telling the truth or that they will be punished. So they just hide it or cover it up. People tend to believe covering the truth with something different is better to “protect” people from harm. A quote I found to show this was, “In fact, you’re claiming the right to be unhappy”(pg. 240). This quote shows that the people are willing to be unhappy instead of speaking the truth.
The society we live in can either lead us to a complicated relationship with the truth or be easy going. The problem with constantly telling lies is that it starts off with one, then leads to another until everything you say is a lie. Being truthful can be beneficial to anyone, and people will follow the example of being honest. People know it is easier to tell lies than face the truth because they are either doing it for money, or protection for themselves, people they love, or relationships. It was discovered by Nick that his whole family wasn’t dead because at Gatsby’s funeral he met Gatsby’s father.
The Odyssey is a classic example of great literature, read and enjoyed both under the bright lights of the classroom and the cozy warmth of the home—this idea is well-known. Yet, there exists a question as to how Homer's “story of a man never at a loss” has managed to maintain the attention of the world to this day. C.S Lewis hints at the answer in his book, The Horse and His Boy: “For in Calormen, story-telling (whether the stories are true or made up) is a thing you're taught, just as English boys and girls are taught essay-writing. The difference is that people want to hear the stories, whereas I never heard of anyone who wanted to read the essays.” Lewis is pointing out the true beauty and art of story-telling; this art form makes its audience want to endure each word. The Odyssey lives on today as a triumph of story-telling because its author is what all authors strive to be: a story-telling master. Said story-telling mastery is demonstrated in The Odyssey as it adheres to the popular imagination's demand for things such as conflict, good versus evil, romance, and adventure.
This idea is the opposite of what most of society believes. Individuals believe that lies are easier to tell than the truth. In the novel, The Kite Runner, written by Khaled Hosseini, a boy named Amir witnesses his friend, Hassan, being raped, but chooses to lie and say that he was searching for the latter the whole time. ““Where were you? I looked for you,” I said. Speaking those words was like chewing on a rock” (Hosseini 83). After that event, Amir did not tell anyone about what happened. Instead, he stayed silent most of the time and spouted lies when he needed to. The lies were spoken with no effort while the truth was said to an unconscious crowd. If Amir had even the slightest care for others, he would be willing to speak up and eradicate the image others have set up for him. Furthermore, not only was Amir the self-centred one, but so was his father, Baba. His father had decided to keep an enormous secret from others, including Amir, with the exception of his best friend, Rahim Khan. The secret was how Hassan was actually Amir’s brother and Baba’s
Ever told a lie, or even been caught in a lie? If so, stay tuned to listen why Phillip, Dr. Seymour, and Jake barlow lied in the book Nothing But The Truth by Avi realistic fiction. In the book Nothing But The Truth it's about a boy named Phillip Malloy who goes to school to only be suspended for humming the nation anthem. As time goes by in the story Phillip story becomes nation wide news, leading to the school and Philip to be in deep trouble.In the novel many people lied, which could have lead to a completely different outcome if Phillip,Dr. Seymour, and Jake Barlow didn't lie.
Telling a lie can jeopardize the people around you and they’ll have to pay for your actions regardless of their innocence. "What have you done?’ The woman answered, ‘It was the serpent who deceived
In society, some people are looked at as liars or “bullshitters,” as stated in the article, “Is Lying Bad for Us?” Honesty is not always the best policy, and in certain situations, liars are best not to tell the truth when protecting the innocent, or protecting oneself. Because of this, lying should be looked at as a standard in society and something that people recognize in every day life.
We lie all the time, lying is not something new to our culture. We lie to our parents, we lie to our friends, we even lie to our significant other, but why do we do it? There is not one set reason on why we lie but they can vary from an insignificant reason to something more nefarious. A good operational definition of a lie is “A lie is a false statement to a person or group made by another person or group who knows it is not the whole truth, intentionally.” (Freitas-Magalhães) We have been raised to know that lying is usually a bad thing, and it’s better to tell the truth, not to mention the circumstances get exponentially worse if you are caught lying. No one wants to be labeled as a liar, or untrustworthy. This may sound unorthodox but I personally think lying is perfectly fine; depending on the situation. If you have a prima-facie duty to be dishonest it’s perfectly acceptable. Ross says a prima facie duty or obligation is an actual duty. “One’s actual duty is what one ought to do all things considered.” (Carson) I’m not the only one who finds this too be true. Ross would also agree with me, He says “Lying is permissible or obligatory when the duty not to lie conflicts with a more important or equal important prima facie duty.” (Carson) As I was doing research on this topic I did read one extremely compelling argument on why we ought not to lie. Aristotle basically said a person who makes a defense for lying could never be trusted. (King.)
Telling the truth teaches one person self- respect for themselves and others as well. Telling the truth also sets a good example for others to do the same thing and make a “chain reaction”. People can make a “chain reaction” by passing on what they have done from one person to another, and before you know it, everyone is changing greatly, and the world is progressing tremendously. Lies are told all around the world, and they are told every day. One lie can often lead to another lie and cause you to be caught up in one big lie that will be hard to get out of if people do not tell the truth. If a person thinks that is okay to lie, they better think again, the truth always comes out no matter how hard a person tries to keep it in, or how much someone thinks that they can get away with lying. No person can keep in or hold a grudge with what they have done. After all, telling the truth is the right thing to do, and everyone should do it. Telling the truth is always much easier than the trouble of a
Secondly, it is okay to be untruthful if you are trying to protect people. In certain situations, it is safer, and more practical for you to tell a lie rather than putting a loved one in jeopardy. To illustrate you may be in a situation where you are in a serious or dangerous situation, and you do not what anyone else involved, to keep them safe. For example, if you are getting held up for ransom, would you tell the truth to a loved one and get them involved, or lie and keep them safe? The obvious answer is to keep them safe at all costs, even if it means lying. Also, you do not want to put someone in harm’s way, so it would be ...
As a reader one has the ability and freedom to see both sides of the story. As well, to interpret the meaning of the message intended by the writer to be delivered. With what is in one person can take away after a reading it may be different from the one that another reader may have taken from it. Personal prospective within culture, religion, political views, education, and experience deprecate in how one person views the message. In Haroun and the Sea of stories there are many occasions where the writer, Rushdie, gives the reader endless ways to interpret the different messages he intends the reader to take away.