It was a word that we loved as kids, a word that consumed our youth, and a word that we will soon love again.
My cousins and I used it as a noun. It was our favorite and the only game we took part in. Every time we visited each other, we played Pretend.
Although “pretend” is often associated with imaginative children, it doesn’t leave as we age. Pretend survives in unfamiliar situations. Now, we pretend that we like one another. We pretend that we don’t care. We pretend that we’re okay. Pretending becomes a verb. It becomes a way to suppress, a way to belong. A way to be someone we’re not.
As an adult, with a family of my own, pretend will still be with me. I’ll turn it back into a noun and I’ll play Pretend with my own kids. We’ll pretend
“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true” (Kierkegaard)- Misleading oneself by accepting things as true or valid when they are not is a common phenomenon of nearly every human being, especially when faced with life changing of threatening situations. Self-deception can therefore be considered an option to escape reality in order to prevent oneself from dealing with the weight of a situation. Basically, those strong influencing psychological forces keep us from acknowledging a threatening situation or truth. However, oftentimes people do not realize that they are deceiving themselves, for it is mostly the action of the subconscious mind to protect especially the psychological well- being. This psychological state is depicted and in Ambrose Bierce’s short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. He shows that people try to escape reality and seek refuge in self-deception when confronted with life-threatening situations, through characterization, alternate point of view, and the fluidity of time.
In their essays both Buckley and Ericsson analyze the different ways we use lies to help and hurt our self in our every day lives, and how this effects American culture. Ericsson shows the way lies can , as she puts it, “ lubricate the daily machinery of living”(128). Buckley, on the other hand uses examples of lies as a way to deny himself; and do exactly the opposite of Ericsson. But they both show how we as Americans use lies these ways and others so much that most of us may not realize it.
In today's society, nothing is really what it seems. Those great "free-bees" you win are never really free and no deal is really as good as it sounds. Even people don't seem to be stable anymore because they are always changing to fit the current trend or to blend in with the newest "crowd". They live their lives covered with a mask and they forget or don't want to be what is most important, themselves, and this is what is called pretending. The idea of "pretending" is when someone "seems" or acts to be something they are not. Although we see this happening a lot today, the act of pretending goes back much further. The act of "pretending" has been used in a lot of early British literature, and it is here that we can see that it can be used for both good and evil purposes. A good example of each of these is found in Elizabeth's life and writings, and Shakespeare's play, Othello, in the character of Iago.
Play is defined as an open-ended set of ‘non-serious’ activities, chosen of free will in lieu of ‘serious’ or ‘ordinary’ activities. The distinction between ‘serious’ and ‘non-serious’ is not intended to characterize the mental state of a player because, more often than not, a silly game is still a mentally absorbing activity.
More specifically, imaginative play is very important during this stage of development because it serves as a means of understanding the world. For example, imaginative play allows the child to comment and try to understand reality via an imaginary world that the child can control and manipulate. This in turn, allows the child to express their feelings in a pretend scenario without receiving the same responses if expressed in reality. As a result, this assists the child in the understanding of emotions and perspective thinking because during imaginative play, the child expresses strong emotions and must empathize with each other’s ideas and feeling (Davies,
When initially asked about the morality of lying, it is easy for one to condemn it for being wrong or even corrupt. However, those asked are generally guilty of the crime on a daily basis. Lying is, unfortunately, a normal aspect of everyday life. In the essay “The Ways We Lie,” author Stephanie Ericsson makes note of the most common types of lies along with their consequences. By ordering the categories from least to most severe, she expresses the idea that lies enshroud our daily lives to the extent that we can no longer between fact and fiction. To fully bring this argument into perspective, Ericsson utilizes metaphor, rhetorical questions, and allusion.
life under a lie like that." From this quote we can see that the kids,
The text “Faking It” by Emily Landau demonstrates the greatest drawbacks of being an impostor over “The Bastard”. Although both of the texts have drawbacks to being an impostor there seems to be more of them in “Faking It”. In addition, the biggest difference between the two texts is the drawbacks to being an impostor in “The Bastard” seems to be easier to live with as opposed to the drawbacks in “Faking It”. In the end the impostor in “The Bastard” may hurt more people at first but over time the people they hurt will move on but in “Faking It” the impostor will stay around the same people which could lead the people they are around to start to do the same things that they are which would lead to there being more people with “Impostor phenomenon”. Therefore the impostor in “Faking it” by Emily Landau has the most drawbacks.
“Perhaps it's impossible to wear an identity without becoming what you pretend to be.” (O, S, Card, 2014).
Play is an important part of emotional-social development. Play can act as a way for children to reveal their innermost feelings and express thought. As defined by the text, play is “voluntary activities done for enjoyment or recreation that are not performed for any sake beyond themselves.” Children move through different levels of play as they mature. One form of play which scientists have become increasingly interested in is imaginative play. With imagination children learn how to be creative. Many children between ages 3-5 create imaginary friends for themselves.
As children develop cognitively the types of play they engage in mirrors this development. This research can be helpful for adults because it gives them insight into how children learn through play (Tsao, 2002). For example, in order to help a child develop their ability to understand the difference between reality and fantasy, pretend games should be encouraged. Parents and teachers can help by giving children toys that require the use of imagination. This includes dress up clothes, play kitchens, and
Toma, C. L., & Hancock, J. T. (2012). What lies beneath: The linguistic traces of deception in
In Ibsen’s The Wild Duck, illusions and reality are set into a conflict within the story of a son’s personal desire to confront idealism. Throughout much of the play, the son, Greger, argues the value of truth with the reluctant Dr. Relling. Relling insists on the importance of illusions, but fails to discourage Greger’s intentions and a play that begins as a comedy quickly turns into a tragedy because of these conflicts. At the heart of the illusions in this play are the ways that people assume many roles in a family, impersonating multiple ideals as ways for managing their relationships. This theme of impersonation is also developed in Ibsen’s Ghosts, where family relations are slowly undone as the illusions and deceptions are stripped away. In both plays, deceptions are strategic and designed to protect the children from the pains and struggles of their families’ histories. Ultimately, in these plays, families are held together by illusions, yet torn apart by truths that have been concealed to protect the children.
...on”, and “Tell-Tale Heart”, illusions are merely misperceptions and are not able to become someone’s reality. However, those misperceptions are a part of developing a reality based on the illusion. The dreams people have and books people read develop a reality for those people. Just as Alice’s dream reflected her coming of age, people’s illusions reflect and become a reality. The world is incredibly complex and difficult to understand. This topic is merely brushing elbows with what people have yet to understand about the world and their own lives. Regardless, it is important to study and contemplate what a life and reality is made of, how a reality is formed. By doing so, it becomes easier to understand how different aspects, illusion, for example, affect the lives of humans. Through researching and gathering evidence, it is found that illusion can become a reality.
They see or hear things that are not there in physical reality. But, I would assert that their illusions are in fact real things. I argue that illusions are real. Note: they don 't have to be true in order to be real. A lie, is in fact, a real thing.