Preview

The Boy Who Cried Wolf: An Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
644 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Boy Who Cried Wolf: An Analysis
Children stories, like The Boy Who Cried Wolf, illustrated the message that honesty is the best policy. Children are taught growing up that they should never lie, else they would end up like Pinocchio. Ethically, it’s good to be honest. However, honesty is not always the best option; lying is just as important as telling the truth.
Over the winter break, my close friend, Lydia, invited me to a skiing trip at Pennsylvania. Lydia was extremely excited. She had planned the trip, checked the ticket prices, and booked hotel rooms. She had expected my immediate approval of the invitation. However, I was busy studying for a test right after break and I prioritized my schoolwork over my trips. Knowing Lydia would be disappointed in my real reason, I told her I was going on a family vacation to Canada.
No one forced me to be honest. It’s my own choice. There are times when it is best to keep my thoughts to myself, and I must judge whether or not candidness is proper. Sadly, the reason why I choose to be honest or not depends on my potential benefits.
…show more content…
I had thought that I was finally starting to be respected. Instead, I was being humiliated. My schoolmates thought of me as weak, since I was swayed by their orders. It was true. Whenever anyone wanted something from me, I completed the task. However, it came to a point that I was being exploited by my peers. Not only that, I was a victim of academic dishonesty. From eighth grade on, I learned to draw a line between too much and too little.
Though honesty and selflessness are both important virtues of a good character, they both have limits. Truthfulness can build trust, but improper use can break trust too. Kindness can create impressions of a well-mannered character, but can also create the impression of a easily influenced person. The ability to distinguish when it is appropriate to be truthful and when it is appropriate to lie is important, and the same applies for

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Essay: Core Values Today

    • 979 Words
    • 4 Pages

    I cherish honesty because when I was growing up, I was taught to always be honest with myself and others as well. Honesty is really the best policy because when one is being honest with others, they gain their trust and understanding. Honesty can be defined as “the quality of being fair and truthful : the quality of being honest” (Merriam Webster, 2016). I can use honesty in my professional life by gaining trust with my coworkers and building connections with them simply by being honest with them. Honesty does build trust because no one wants someone who is going to lie to them around them all the…

    • 979 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Honesty is essential for most jobs. It is also very important when handling money, however, in some jobs, you might be more successful if you blur the truth sometimes, put a spin on something’s you want people to hear rather than tell them the complete truth, a job with this as an example would be an estate agent.…

    • 499 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lies are told around the world multiple times during the day. Everyone sitting in this room has probably once today, said a lie. Sometimes lying is understandable for someone’s protection but sometimes the truth is essential to the person. There are multiple things people say in a day that are seen as lies such as “That outfit looks really good on you!,” “It wasn’t me!” and “I’ll be with you in a few minutes.” Honestly is not always the best policy because in the end it does not make everything better. People tell little lies so that they protect someone they care about and not hurt the feelings of another person. Honesty not always being the best policy is showed in The Scarlet Letter, “Tell All The Truth” poem, the “He Lies” video,…

    • 1264 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    We live our lives by what we think we should do” (Ballinger 9). Is lying the best route to take while trying come to a solution? Or, is honesty the best way to go? In the article, “Brad Blanton: Honestly, Tell the Truth” Barbara Ballinger the author, interviews Brad Blanton who argues that telling the truth and being honest is better than lying. In the text, Brad Blanton believes that “being honest all the time is what’s radical - and rare.” However, he wants to convince others that honesty is better than lying. For example, he says that, “You have to think about what the person’s reaction might be, and you start manipulating information to control the outcome” (Ballinger 7). This proves that lying isn’t always the greatest path to take when trying to get out of a uncomfortable situation.…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I think it is good that you shouldn't say anything at all instead of lying, but in the book, this is said to be the cruelest type of lies. Stereotypes create lies because a group of people's actions caused bad things to happen. Some lies are straightforward, and purpose is to avoid the truth all together. It's seems that the author believes lying is important in order to not hurt peoples feelings and to be successful and happy. Being dishonest is a cover-up for pain, hurt, guilt, or ignorance. I don't agree with author in something's that she says. It is true that lying may cover up pain, but the truth will always solve the problem.…

    • 356 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Reason Why Children Lie

    • 625 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Lying is something that people do in their daily lives, whether they choose to admit or not is their decision. It has become normal for children as well as adults to lie in their lives to avoid saying something they do not want to. Adults do it sometimes when they want to keep their children happy and avoid them from being sad if parents tell them the truth. Now children do lie quite more than adults for their own reasons. The real question is why do children lie? Children lie often because they think the truth hurts people’s feelings and they are afraid of telling the truth.…

    • 625 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Ways We Lie Analysis

    • 1327 Words
    • 6 Pages

    An issue that has been highly controversial regarding honesty has been whether it is ever right to lie. Some people would argue that lying is not always morally wrong. From this perspective, telling a lie can be beneficial because the truth sometimes causes more damage than a lie would. To illustrate, a person might lie about how someone looks so that they are not offended. However, others argue that it is never morally right to lie. Stephanie Ericsson, who maintains this view, argues in her essay “The Ways We Lie” that “When someone lies, someone loses” (425). According to this view, a lie always leads to someone being negatively affected. Therefore, lying is wrong because it always results in someone being harmed. In sum, the issue is whether lying is moral or immoral.…

    • 1327 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Why Are Lies Wrong

    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The debate over the acceptability of lying is a complicated one. Some feel that it is morally wrong and only ever worsens a situation. Others feel that it is acceptable in cases where feelings could be hurt, or if a person’s self-esteem may be lowered. However, there are instances in which lying happens simply to avoid the consequences of a person’s actions, and most would agree that it is morally wrong. Instead of going back and forth between “lying is wrong” and “lying is okay sometimes,” a better use of our time would be learning to improve our honesty with ourselves and with the people around…

    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Oedipus Rex

    • 1089 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Have you ever heard the saying ‘’ the truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable.’’ Well behind that there is another question, Is it always good to know the truth? Some say the truth will either break or make a person. Would you rather live your life in a bundle of lies and pretend to be happy? Or would you rather spend your life in shame and suffering because of the truth? It would be a guarantee the guilty feeling will not there because you told the truth. For when you are a child, to tell the truth was good we all were thought right from wrong, truth from lies but most of all the truth is always better than the lies. Take a minute and think on it, is it really always good to know the truth?…

    • 1089 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Boy Who Cry Wolf

    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages

    To begin, when I first introduce to the United State I heard the story of the boy who cry wolf, as well as, some of Dr. Seuss books. The one thing that I remember was that I was caught lying one day to my step dad and he knows that I was lying, so he told me about the story of the boy who cry wolf and teach me it not good to lie to people. At the same time, I was in fourth grade and we were reading some of the Dr. Seuss book series and I learned from reading most of those book is that everything has consequences, just like thing 1 and thing 2 when they appeared, they alway cause a ruckus and get themselves in trouble and the jiggy mcbobber machine has to save them. Having said that, these two experience has taught me the basic foundation of…

    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ethics Essay

    • 647 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The old adage is that, “honesty is the best policy.” These characteristics clearly mean that one must be of strong morals which in turn will assist in building a stronger values system that will support ones beliefs and do what is ethically right.…

    • 647 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As a child, I had always been very quiet and very reserved. My mom always said that I barely cried and was always particularly calm. When I was in the 3rd grade, I often struggled in math class and was too shy to ever ask for help. I was given news that I was to attend summer school and that it would determine if I would move on to the 4th grade. In summer school, I also struggled and even though I knew I wasn’t understanding the concepts I remained silent. I received a call saying that I had failed and was at risk of repeating the grade. Luckily for me, my mother and counselor advocated on my behalf and I was given a second chance. Now you may be wondering so what? Well, this experience served as an eye opener for me and marked the day that…

    • 1562 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    My father always told me that the truth will set you free. Always tell the truth, never lie, even you have 100 reason to lie, there is always a reason to tell the truth.…

    • 560 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Cause and Effect of Lying

    • 378 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Neverthaless we are human. We make complicated choices and decisions everyday that wear us down. We may come up with lies that seem necessary, but in the long run aren't necessary at all. As i said before were only human, but when we make it a habit a problem arises. Do not lie out of politeness, or to preserve your own…

    • 378 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Telling a difficult truth is better than to resort to easily lie. Some people would disagree with me because they believe lying is ok. In the AP-Ipsos polls, 65 percent said it was ok to lie to protect someone’s feelings. These people don’t think of the after effect of lying. When people find out you lie, they don’t know if they could trust you. Thus, telling a lie could hurt more then when to tell the truth. Not only does telling the truth help your trust issues with others, you won’t regret hurting someone from the truth than telling a…

    • 450 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays