Human Actions and Lying in the Essay The Ways We Lie by Stephanie Ericsson

the bank that she her deposit was in the mail, even though she had not even written it, told her client that traffic was bad on her way to the meeting, when her husband asks her how was her day, she describes it as “fine," and tells her friend that she cannot make lunch because she is busy.

She has told four different lies and does not feel any remorse. Her reasoning for lying is: the bank charges her sixty dollars in overdraft fees, her husband's mood is worsened by the thorough details of how dreadful her day was, her friend's feelings are hurt because she tells her that she is simply not hungry, and her client fires her because she tells them she was simply just too tired to come on time. Ericsson uses these examples to explain that lying makes life extremely easier than facing the consequences of dishonorable actions. Here it is clearly exemplified how lying is a common human action.

However, later in her essay she explains that taking the easy way out can prove to be just a traitorous as taking the more difficult way. A rhetorical question is a figure of speech in the form of a question that is asked in order to make a point, rather than to elicit an answer (wikipedia.org). Throughout the first nine paragraphs of her essay, Ericsson asks her readers questions, but instead of answering them out loud about general people, she wants them to look at the questions as a reflection on themselves. For example, in paragraph three Ericsson states, “ We lie. We all do.

We exaggerate, we minimize, we avoid confrontation...” “Like most

people, I indulge in small falsehoods and still think of myself as an honest person. Sure I lie, but it doesn't hurt anything. Or does it??” (pg.220) At the end of the paragraph the readers are asking themselves, if all people lie, how much do they lie themselves, and what lies have been told to them. While the readers are thinking about this, Ericsson goes on to explain in paragraph six, "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 for my penance because I ducked out?” Now Ericsson wants the readers to think about if the lies they told, or been told, ever hurt someone or worsened a situation. She does this in hopes that they will understand that lying does not always get people out of bad situations, but can destroy someone's trust, make others pay for a mistake not their own, all because people do not want to face the consequences for their actions or face their own ugly truth.

Comparison is the act of suggesting that two or more things are similar or in the same category (merriam-webster.com). In paragraph five Ericsson asks, “But if I justify lying what makes me any different from slick politicians or the corporate robbers who raided the S;L industry?"... "I cannot seem to escape the voice deep inside me that tells me: When someone lies, someone loses” (pg.221). Reading this shows that lying makes people no better than most politicians, who rise up the hopes of the people in their community with promises they know they will not be able to keep,

showing that once again lying is hurtful and destructive.

Ericsson wants the readers to feel awful about lying, in hopes that they will soon change their ways. Lying may seem as if it is an easy way out of tough situations, however, it has been proven that in the end lying only worsens tough situations. This was the general purpose of Stephanie Ericsson's essay. She wants her readers to fully understand that lying goes past not being truthful.

Even though it seems to be an easy getaway, someone in the end is hurt, their trust is destroyed, and they have to pay the consequences for other's actions. She is able to achieve this purpose by using examples, rhetorical questions, and comparisons. Each rhetorical strategy makes the reader think about if the lies they have told hurt others, or if they had been hurt by lies. In the end they helped convince the readers that even though lying is a common human action, it still the wrong way out of situations, making the essay strong and powerful.