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Discussion Questions for All Novels
Saturday, June 15, 2013
The Age of Miracles 5: Julia's father's lies
5. Julia’s father tells several crucial lies. Discuss these lies and consider which ones, if any, are justified
and which ones are not. Is lying ever the right thing to do? If so, when?
Julia’s father tells many lies throughout the book. One of the lies he tells is to his wife. The hospital called him to let him know that the man from the car accident that his wife hit had died. Instead of telling his wife that the man she hit did die, he told her that the man was fine and had lived. I think that this lie is justified because of the syndrome his wife had. She had gotten this syndrome from the slowing. It had made her weak, she felt dizzy often, and she even passed out a few times. The syndrome is what caused the accident in the first place. If Julia’s father would have told his wife the truth about the man from the accident dying, who knows how his wife would have reacted because of the syndrome. Another one of the lies Julia’s father tells is when he said he is going to work when he really is going to their neighbor Sylvia’s house. He is in a relationship with Sylvia, but does not want his wife or daughter to know about it. I do not think this lie is justified at all because nothing good comes out of it, and he is just straight up lying. He is being sneaky and going behind his families back, and I do not think that is right at all. When Julia sees them together she realizes his lie and loses respect for her father. I believe that sometimes lying is the right thing to do. If you were in a situation where telling the truth would hurt someone then in that case lying would be the right thing for that situation. For example, when Julia’s dad found out that his wife had killed the man in the street, he told her that she didn’t kill him. I think that was the right thing to do because his wife was very ill and hearing that she killed someone wouldn’t have helped her sickness. I mean if hearing that news would have made her want to kill herself, wouldn’t you have done the same thing? In this case the lie was not meant to cover anything up and it didn’t affect anyone else.
The very idea of a “good lie” seems like an oxymoron. How could a “lie” be good? Lies, by their nature, deceive people and distort the truth. However, there are rare instances when it may actually be considered “good” to lie. There seems to me to be only two reasons why people would distort the truth; for the perceived betterment of themselves or the perceived betterment of others. This breaks up lies into two categories, category one being the “selfish lie” and category two being the “unselfish lie.” I would consider the act of Julia’s father concealing the fact that he is having an affair with Sylvia to be a “selfish lie.” He is lying to save himself from the consequences of his actions, some of the possible consequences being divorce, humiliation, his wife’s outrage, etc. Julia’s father knows he is doing something that is morally wrong, so he is protecting himself by not telling the truth to Julia or his wife. He is lying out of self-interest, not for the betterment of others. For these reasons, Julia’s father being in a relationship with Sylvia is certainly a “bad lie.” I agree with Kara completely when she writes that this particular lie is “not justified at all.” At one point in the novel, Julia’s father lies to his wife about the man that she struck with a car still being alive, when in reality he is dead. This time, Julia’s father appears to be helping his wife by letting slip this lie; he is protecting her sanity and her health. There is no doubt that Julia’s mother would be extremely distraught if she finds out that the suicidal man that she had drove into with her car had, in fact, perished. So, although Julia’s father was indirectly helping himself by helping his wife (a happy wife makes a happy life, as the saying goes), I still consider his lie about the suicidal man being alive to be an “unselfish lie.” Therefore, I agree with Kara when she writes that “this lie is justified.” I also agree with Kara’s assertion that lies are “sometimes” the right thing to do. Even though I know that lying is wrong, if a lie that I tell is actually helping someone, could it really be that bad? The thing is, usually lies come back to bite you; even if you think you might be helping someone by lying, in the long run you may actually be hurting them. It is best to just be honest as often as you can; dishonesty makes things worse much more often than it makes things better.
Julia’s father tells many major lies in the book.One is the going on love affair he had with the family’s neighbor, and Julia’s piano teacher, Sylvia during the slowing. That was his major lie, but he also had many little lies throughout the book, like when a lady died at the hospital and Julia’s father told his wife she didnt. I feel like none of these lies are justified. Also, lying isn't generally the right thing to do. One of my favorites quotes is “There will always be a reason to lie, but this will always be a better reason to tell the truth”.
The first time the Father lies in The Age of Miracles is when he says to Julia that no one died at the hospital. I understand this lie as he was trying to, albeit unsuccessfully, to protect Julia from some of the awful things in life. I was somewhat irritated that he said this as Julia knew that he ad been lying. I think lying about this death was simply treating Julia as a child and not a teenager, since the mother thought it was okay to tell Julia the truth. The second significant lie that the father tells is that he is going to work when he is really having an affair with Sylvia. I detest this lie, as it was an entirely self-serving and selfish thing to hide. By secretly cheating on the mom, he is betraying his family. This sin is made even worse by the fact that he is doing this right when his family needs him at this global crisis. I was outright disgusted by the fact that he might have even been skipping work to be with Sylvia. If you have some kind of an attraction to another person while you’re married to someone else. You should just be honest with them. The third big lie Julia’s dad tells is that the pedestrian that Julia’s mother hit survived, when in reality he actually had perished. I find this lie much more justifiable than the other two as it was just to help the mom’s condition and mood. However, I do not like the idea of a person’s happiness being based on a lie. I would not have thrown away the police report that said the man died, but I would have just kept it and eventually had shown her if she ever had gotten better. I overall do not support lying, as I value honesty among other virtues. I can understand lying for a good cause, but even that leads to trouble. Once a person lies, he will keep on lying, and soon he will tell nothing but lies. I found the dad to be very unlikable for this to me, as he seems to be a very untrustworthy person. To be fair, he does eventually lie a little less and only does it for good reasons. I just think the father should have just been honest throughout the whole story.
Julia’s father tells many lies throughout the book. One of the lies he tells is to his wife. The hospital called him to let him know that the man from the car accident that his wife hit had died. Instead of telling his wife that the man she hit did die, he told her that the man was fine and had lived. I think that this lie is justified because of the syndrome his wife had. She had gotten this syndrome from the slowing. It had made her weak, she felt dizzy often, and she even passed out a few times. The syndrome is what caused the accident in the first place. If Julia’s father would have told his wife the truth about the man from the accident dying, who knows how his wife would have reacted because of the syndrome.
ReplyDeleteAnother one of the lies Julia’s father tells is when he said he is going to work when he really is going to their neighbor Sylvia’s house. He is in a relationship with Sylvia, but does not want his wife or daughter to know about it. I do not think this lie is justified at all because nothing good comes out of it, and he is just straight up lying. He is being sneaky and going behind his families back, and I do not think that is right at all. When Julia sees them together she realizes his lie and loses respect for her father.
I believe that sometimes lying is the right thing to do. If you were in a situation where telling the truth would hurt someone then in that case lying would be the right thing for that situation. For example, when Julia’s dad found out that his wife had killed the man in the street, he told her that she didn’t kill him. I think that was the right thing to do because his wife was very ill and hearing that she killed someone wouldn’t have helped her sickness. I mean if hearing that news would have made her want to kill herself, wouldn’t you have done the same thing? In this case the lie was not meant to cover anything up and it didn’t affect anyone else.
The very idea of a “good lie” seems like an oxymoron. How could a “lie” be good? Lies, by their nature, deceive people and distort the truth. However, there are rare instances when it may actually be considered “good” to lie. There seems to me to be only two reasons why people would distort the truth; for the perceived betterment of themselves or the perceived betterment of others. This breaks up lies into two categories, category one being the “selfish lie” and category two being the “unselfish lie.”
DeleteI would consider the act of Julia’s father concealing the fact that he is having an affair with Sylvia to be a “selfish lie.” He is lying to save himself from the consequences of his actions, some of the possible consequences being divorce, humiliation, his wife’s outrage, etc. Julia’s father knows he is doing something that is morally wrong, so he is protecting himself by not telling the truth to Julia or his wife. He is lying out of self-interest, not for the betterment of others. For these reasons, Julia’s father being in a relationship with Sylvia is certainly a “bad lie.” I agree with Kara completely when she writes that this particular lie is “not justified at all.”
At one point in the novel, Julia’s father lies to his wife about the man that she struck with a car still being alive, when in reality he is dead. This time, Julia’s father appears to be helping his wife by letting slip this lie; he is protecting her sanity and her health. There is no doubt that Julia’s mother would be extremely distraught if she finds out that the suicidal man that she had drove into with her car had, in fact, perished. So, although Julia’s father was indirectly helping himself by helping his wife (a happy wife makes a happy life, as the saying goes), I still consider his lie about the suicidal man being alive to be an “unselfish lie.” Therefore, I agree with Kara when she writes that “this lie is justified.”
I also agree with Kara’s assertion that lies are “sometimes” the right thing to do. Even though I know that lying is wrong, if a lie that I tell is actually helping someone, could it really be that bad? The thing is, usually lies come back to bite you; even if you think you might be helping someone by lying, in the long run you may actually be hurting them. It is best to just be honest as often as you can; dishonesty makes things worse much more often than it makes things better.
Julia’s father tells many major lies in the book.One is the going on love affair he had with the family’s neighbor, and Julia’s piano teacher, Sylvia during the slowing. That was his major lie, but he also had many little lies throughout the book, like when a lady died at the hospital and Julia’s father told his wife she didnt. I feel like none of these lies are justified. Also, lying isn't generally the right thing to do. One of my favorites quotes is “There will always be a reason to lie, but this will always be a better reason to tell the truth”.
ReplyDeleteThe first time the Father lies in The Age of Miracles is when he says to Julia that no one died at the hospital. I understand this lie as he was trying to, albeit unsuccessfully, to protect Julia from some of the awful things in life. I was somewhat irritated that he said this as Julia knew that he ad been lying. I think lying about this death was simply treating Julia as a child and not a teenager, since the mother thought it was okay to tell Julia the truth.
ReplyDeleteThe second significant lie that the father tells is that he is going to work when he is really having an affair with Sylvia. I detest this lie, as it was an entirely self-serving and selfish thing to hide. By secretly cheating on the mom, he is betraying his family. This sin is made even worse by the fact that he is doing this right when his family needs him at this global crisis. I was outright disgusted by the fact that he might have even been skipping work to be with Sylvia. If you have some kind of an attraction to another person while you’re married to someone else. You should just be honest with them.
The third big lie Julia’s dad tells is that the pedestrian that Julia’s mother hit survived, when in reality he actually had perished. I find this lie much more justifiable than the other two as it was just to help the mom’s condition and mood. However, I do not like the idea of a person’s happiness being based on a lie. I would not have thrown away the police report that said the man died, but I would have just kept it and eventually had shown her if she ever had gotten better.
I overall do not support lying, as I value honesty among other virtues. I can understand lying for a good cause, but even that leads to trouble. Once a person lies, he will keep on lying, and soon he will tell nothing but lies. I found the dad to be very unlikable for this to me, as he seems to be a very untrustworthy person. To be fair, he does eventually lie a little less and only does it for good reasons. I just think the father should have just been honest throughout the whole story.