A Literary Analysis of “The Lie”
Sixty percent of people have lied during a ten minute conversation. Lying is a very common thing to people. To me lying is not the right thing to do. In this story “The Lie by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.,” Eli is pressured by his father to get into Whitehill School and is forced to lie after he doesn’t get in. This story teaches us to never lie, and always to be honest. To begin with this story “The Lie” is written in the mode of comedy. In the beginning the life for Eli and his family is normal. They are arriving to Whitehill School for Boys to have Eli try to enroll in the school. Then the conflict arises- Eli is pressured by his dad Dr. Remenzel to get into this school because all of his relatives have gone there, and are famous there. I think that Eli thought that if he did not get into this school his father would be mad at him. If I was in his position I would also be a little worried that all of their expectations would fail over Eli not getting into Whitehill. After the very small sense of chaos the full conflict is realized by the main character which is Eli. When he realizes that they have to go to a dinner with the boss Doctor Warren. Eli is worried that Doctor Warren will tell his parents about his applications. Now the next plot in the Comedy plotline is the resolution is occurred. When right when Doctor Warren enter the room for dinner and Eli leaves right away. His parents are worried and wonder what happened. The beginning of this story is good but the ending is very interesting. After Eli escapes the dinner he hides and his mom sees him. She talks to him and he said that he was pressured and felt like a failure and didn’t want to tell his dad. But after they talk to his dad he understand and at the end just like in the plotline it ends in normal everyday life when they go home.
This story has a very strong meaning and has a lesson to be learned. This story has a lesson that is never lie. It is in the ten commandments never lie. The only time that ever lie is when a stranger asks where your parents are I always say the shower because you can’t really say that I’m alone because you never know. In my opinion Eli should not be faulted because he was pressured so much from his dad to get into this school. Eli didn’t want to admit that he didn’t get in from all the hype. But I think that it would’ve been easier just to come out and tell his parents.
This story does have a good meaning but the conclusion is even better. This story has the plotline of comedy. The whole plotline makes sense with the story. The meaning in this short story “The Lie” is never to lie. Eli is basically forced to lie by his father to get into Whitehill. I don’t think that it was his fault but he could’ve just told them that he didn’t make it instead of making a big deal out of it.
