Stephanie Ericssson White Lies Analysis

In today’s American society, lying has become something that we are accustomed to using almost every day without even realizing it. In “The Ways We Lie”, Stephanie Ericsson, screenwriter, advertising copywriter, and writer, elaborates on the act of lying and how it is used by everyone on a daily basis. She comes up with a list of the common, different kinds of lies that we all have told. Furthermore, the text goes in depth about the significance of lying and how it is an essential part of every human’s life. Ericsson’s essay effectively conveys this idea through the use of pathos, logos, ethos, personal examples, rhetorical questions, and analogies which helps the reader better understand the reasoning behind lies and how it affects our

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book Reading Ellen White by George R. Knight. I found some sections of the book to be particularly interesting. I learned different ways to interpret Ellen White’s writings. When reading at a surface level some of her writings can seem to contradict each other. It is important when reading her messages to know how to interpret what she is saying to get the full meaning of the writing. While reading through the book I came across some good points that I hope to apply to my life as well as with those I come in contact with.

Ericsson first uses metaphors to establish her purpose for writing the essay. As an example, the author says “Unfortunately, it [stereotype] often shuts down the original thinking, giving those hungry for the truth a candy bar of misinformation instead of a balanced meal.” (pg. 164). By using metaphors, the author allows the readers minds to wander and think about what is being said in a way they can easily comprehend. Next, the author uses hyperbole to dramatize her points. An example of this would be “I once tried going a week without telling a lie, and it was paralyzing” (pg. 159). Hyperboles benefit the essay in that they provide a dramatic contrast, thus allowing the point to stand out more. Finally, there is a profusion of rhetorical questions in “The Ways We Lie”, especially at the beginning and ends of the essay, which assist the author in strengthening the purpose. In fact, Ericsson asks when talking about the consequences of lying and tell the truth: “What far-reaching consequences will I, or others, pay as a result of my lie? Will someone’s trust be destroyed? Will someone else pay my penance because I ducked out?”(pg. 160). Similarly, in the second to last paragraph, the audience is asked how much people will tolerate before they become “sick and tired of being sick and tired” and also when will they stand up and assert their right to trust, “realize the truth is in the fine print” and when will they stop

As she went into depth explaining each form of lying, Ericsson showcased the varying levels of severity in lying, through examples written in the text. At the beginning of the essay, she writes about lying to a friend by saying she was busy and couldn’t meet up, even though she just wasn’t hungry. Further into the essay while writing about ignoring facts, she writes about how a Catholic Church hired Father Porter, knowing his history of abusing children, which led to more children being harmed. It’s hard to imagine that both of these instances are defined as lies, and it clearly shows the complicated layers of lying that keep all lies from being harmless or bad. Ericsson even shows a mild and more extreme version of the same type of lie. When describing a facade, she writes about how she puts up a facade by wearing suits to work, even though she prefers to stay in her pajamas until the afternoon. Right after, she describes

After reading both stories, I found that I enjoyed Stephanie Ericsson’s, “The Ways We Lie” the most. This story was very interesting and made me think of many different things. I did not realize that there were so many different ways to lie. I was guilty of doing a few of them. After reading the section about the white lie, I realized that I do this sometimes without even noticing it. Ericsson gives the example of when your friend may look terrible one day, but you tell them that they look nice just so they would feel better. Most people, along with myself, do not see this as a bad thing because you are doing something good for someone else, but either way you are still lying. As I continued reading, I was also shocked about a few parts, especially

In the article “It’s the truth: Americans Conflicted About Lying” the author believes that lying is only justified if it doesn’t hurt anyone. The author supports his claim by stating “Apparently white lies are acceptable, even necessary, part of many lives-even though we dislike the idea of lying.” This supports his claim by saying that lying is sometimes necessary. Also, the article states that 65 percent of Americans voted that it was ok to lie sometimes. This also helps his claim by stating that people will lie to protect each other or to not cause harm. The author also supports his claim by stating “Not only is lying justified, It is sometimes a moral duty.” (Randy Cohen) This also supports the claim by saying sometimes you have to lie

Lies, they're everywhere, are they worth the trouble? Throughout these three articles, “It’s the truth”, “Honestly tell the truth”, and “Rejecting all lies”, the authors precisely analyze who agrees, and who doesn’t agree with lying, and why. Lying may be the first thing to come to mind when in a bad situation, but does anyone realize how much damage it can cause towards the other person or to the liar themselves?

In discussions on the topic of lying, a controversial issue has been whether there is justification of lying or not. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of if there is ever a time when a lie can be told for the good of someone else. Whereas some are convinced that lies should never be told, others agree that there are certain instances where lying is acceptable because the liar protects the one lied to. In the essay “The Ways We Lie” by Stephanie Ericsson, she explores the types of lies and how they affect everyday people. In Anton Chekhov’s fictional story, “The Lady with the Dog,” he displays two characters, Dmitri Gurov and Anna Sergeyevna, lying for love and to avoid consequence by their spouses. I stand against lying for the benefit of oneself because I think that it has the ability to ruin relationships or friendships and is hard to keep up the lies which leads to creating more lies. Although some people think that there are circumstances that warrant lying, I claim that no one should lie because lies end up hurting both people involved: the liar and the person lied to.

Ericsson structures her writing through subheadings, and categorizing each lie with insightful examples. The author first tackles the white lie. She writes, “The white lie assumes that the truth will cause more damage than a simple harmless untruth… it as an act of subtle arrogance for anyone to decide what is best for someone else” (160). I believe white lies can only do as much damage compared to the extent of the lie. I tell my mom I’ve done a chore, which I haven't yet, but if she were to arrive earlier I would be in trouble for lying. The lie was intended to be harmless, but I faced the consequences. If I had told the truth I would not have to face as much anger from my mother. Nevertheless, even the smallest white lies end up with negative outcomes. One’s intentions could also cloud the fact that the white lie might harm the other party. The example of the sergeant’s white lie, where he reports the soldier as missing instead of dead, shows how such a small lie can impact

Throughout the poem, “White Lies”, Natasha Tretheway was able to show the difficulty of growing up biracial by using different literary elements that include puns, irony, and flashbacks to demonstrate how self-love is required in order to find one’s identity. By using first person, the author was able to connect with her audience on a deeper level by letting them experience what she did by taking them on a journey as she reflects back on her tough childhood.

First of the so called white lies are the lies permitted to everyone, and those even thought to children. We have all heard this in a certain time: “Ohh but it’s just a little white lie, he will never know”. Of course as a lie you are still hiding the truth and sooner or later it will come out, thus there are other negative attributes to a lie and even to those small and innocent as a white lie. White lies according to the author, are lies that we are intended to not damage someone else feelings. So far we

Ever since birth, people are told about lying and how it is something bad. Lying is projected as something that only can hurt people. Instead the slogan “Honesty is the best policy” is ingrained in their heads so that they are raised up to become honest people. Except not all lying is bad. Mark Twain shows this in his Adventures of Huckleberry Finn where Huck and many others lie throughout the whole novel. In the case of Huck, lying is what saves him and frees him from his grim situations. So lying itself is not that bad if it can save someone's life. This controversy over a good lie and a bad lie connect to the binary of appearances vs reality. As society’s appearance to the outside world is simply a lie to hide the horrors of slavery that

The novella "We Were Liars" was a beautiful embodiment of many of the problems that our society currently faces. From materialism to manipulation, the relevance of the work was uncanny. Cover to cover, this story incorporated a number of real-world problems that are too often ignored by us in our daily lives. Not even a few chapters in, racism is one of the first hot topics to appear. In fact, when the eldest Sinclairs met Ed and Gat on page 2, the matriarch's immediate response was "You must be Ed.

As many know, we lie to cover up things that we don’t want others to know. Maybe when you were a child you broke your brothers toy and when he confronted you, you lied and said you had no idea who did it, or maybe you completely try to change the subject. In a way, that is what interpersonal deception theory is, it’s an attempt to explain how individuals handle actual deception at the conscious or subconscious level while they are engaged in a face-to-face communication. And Actually This type of deception has 3 aspects such as falsification, concealment, and equivocation.

White lies are defined as diplomatic or well-intentioned deception. There are many different types of white lies that are told, such as, lies of flattery for example; if someone gives another person a gift and the gift was not what the person wanted, this person would reply “thank you so much! I just love it!” This type of white lie is told because telling someone