English 1101
2 February 2016
Professor Young
Is it permissible to lie? If so, when? If not, why not?
We should not lie because
it goes against our moral values and creates distrust in our relationships, but
in certain circumstance lying may be necessary. If lying becomes routine in our lives, then we
can expect to lose the trust of our friends and family because they won’t
believe what we are saying. This can lead to shattered relationships, and eventually
lead to a bad reputation. We all accept that people who usually lie tend to
lose friends. We soon learn that lying to avoid a problem does not make it go
away it usually makes it worse. However, we should remind ourselves that there
may be instances when lying is permissible, even necessary. In “The Good Lord
Bird,” by James McBride, we read that Henry finds it necessary to lie to Brown
about his gender in order to protect his safety. Henry goes on to explain that
during these times it is vital that “Negroes” learn to lie simply to protect
their lives. Slaves owners had complete control over the lives and deaths of
their “property.” This compromised the relationships to the point that the
slaves would say anything to spare themselves. We understand slaves who told
the truth ran the risk of death. In
modern times we accept that it is permissible to lie in order to avoid hurting
someone’s feelings or to avoid awkwardness. Sometimes it may be necessary to
lie in order to keep someone’ s confidence, something that was shared but meant
to remain confidential. In general, we should not lie but we need to accept
that may be necessary at times.
Thank you for your post Jackie. The beginning of your introduction leads nicely into your discussion of Henry's lying to John Brown.
ReplyDeleteI wonder though how might your discussion of Henry develop when you explain why he lied to feel safe. Can you describe the conditions of Henry's life that it made necessary to lie about his gender?
When you make specific references to the text to support your position, it is always good to include page numbers. Where could you add specific references?
I look forward to your response.
Prof. Young
The conditions of Henry's life that made it necessary to lie about this gender was in the book it refers to slaves that lie becomes a regular routine and by this slaves are safe. Also, Henry heard John Brown was a dangerous man so he wanted to behave. Where I can add specific references is when I stated about Henry being a girl, which was on page 30.
ReplyDelete