1.+Literary+Analysis

Author's Views of Lying

**Texual Evidence In Favor Of Lying:**

"Four lies in the course of one day, none of which I felt the least bit guilty about."

"We lie. We all do. We exaggerate, we minimize, we avoid confrontation, we spare people's feelings, we conveniently forget, we keep secrets, we justify to big-guy institutions."

"There must be some merit to lying."

"I once tried going a whole week without telling a lie, and it was paralyzing. I discovered that telling the truth all the time is nearly impossible."

"It's not easy to be entirely eliminate lies from our lives. No matter how poius we may try to be, we will still embellish, hedge, and omit to lubricate the daily machinery of living."


 * Texual Evidence Against Lying:**

"Martin Buber once said, 'The lie is the spirit comitting treason against itself.'

"Our acceptance of lies becomes a cultural cancer that eventually shrouds and reorders reality until moral garbage becomes as invisible to us as water is to a fish."

"How much do we tolerate before we become sick and tired of being sick and tired? When will we stand up and declare our right to trust?... When do we stop turning over our personal power and responsibility to liars?"

"You've got to stand for something, or you'll fall for anything."

This text analyzes all of the different methods of lying. The **author’s purpose** is to explain her argument that not all lies effect people in a negative way. “There must be some merit to lying.”, states Ericsson. When she explains the White Lie, he author quotes Bergen Evans, “A man who won’t lie to his wife has very little consideration for her feelings.”

Stephanie Ericsson, in “The Ways We Lie” takes the **voice** of an everyday average person, who is easy to relate to. She initially describes situations in which she is forced to lie: her “deposit was in the mail”, she was late due to “bad traffic”, she describes herself as “Oh, fine” when she has had a horrible day. All of these lies she tells over the course of one typical 24-hour period. “Like most people, I indulge in small falsehoods and still think of myself as an honest person.”, bargains Ericsson.

The **occasion** is everyday life. She explains an occasion for lying can be anything from saving a friends feelings to lying to larger corporate industries. Ericsson explains, “We exaggerate, we minimize, we avoid confrontation, we spare people’s feelings, we conveniently forget, we keep secrets, we justify to the big-guy institutions.” 

