The Lie Short Story Analysis

In T.C. Boyle’s “The Lie”, Lonnie is a normal person with a life that needs to be turned around. His job is dragging him down, his wife is not who she used to be, he has a baby to take care of, and he is not very happy. Lonnie needed an end all, be all excuse that would cure him of his melancholy, and he found just that; although, his solution would cost him to lose the few relationships he had, including the most significant one, with his wife.

Lonnie and his wife, Clover, seem to be diverging in personality and overall outlook on life. Clover is driven to success; she is going to school to be a lawyer, working a job, taking care of the baby, and is the first one out of bed every morning. Lonnie, on the other hand, seems to be very lazy and depressed. He always sleeps too late and despises his job which causes him to call in with his lies. Another dysfunctional relationship of

Lonnie’s is the one with his boss. He uses degrading adjectives to describe his boss such as “drooping dog-like folds of his Slavic flesh”. This is a big part of the reason why Lonnie hates going to work every day. Another reason is his relationship with his coworkers, which is next to none. He does not have any good friends at his workplace to look forward to seeing besides maybe Tank, but he didn’t seem like much of a friend either. He only says a few of his co-workers names, one of which he doesn’t even know the last name of. His co-workers give him a lot of money, food, and cards to show their sympathy for Lonnie’s baby “dying” despite not even knowing him.

Lonnie takes the days off from work that he does because he dislikes his job and family, and constantly needs an escape.

What should be everyday life for him is now becoming rare oddity. All of his sick and personal days are used up very quickly in relation to the year, showing that he uses them frequently to have time to himself. Lonnie also seems to relive his past during his escapades. He goes surfing, goes to t

Lonnie chooses the lie about his baby dying because he knows it is too big of a lie to keep in secret forever. He needed a way to get a fresh start on life. His lie destroys his job, his family, and the few relationships that he had. If he gets a new job with a boss that is more acceptable, a job away from video editing films, some exceptional friendships to keep up his morale, and a significant other to start a family with, maybe his life would turn around for the better.

Overall, Lonnie needed to tell this big Lie as a cry for help. It solved all of this problems in one go. There were many other ways he could have gone about it, but he did not have the courage to do

so.