“You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” -Abraham Lincoln
In my short lifetime I have heard the phrases “Always tell the truth” and “The truth will set you free”. Also as a child consequences for lying were substantially more serious than other naughty deeds.
In the recent film Easy A, a fairly shy high school girl get tied up in a situation where she lies to make someone else look better in the eyes of their peers. One thing leads to another and before she knows it, she has lied for a half dozen people, while at the same time making a false, negative reputation for herself. She digs herself in a hole and she doesn’t know how to get out.
Like Abraham Lincoln said, “You cannot fool all people all the time”. You may be able to trick people for a while, but it won’t take long for them to see through your scheme. The truth may be insane or even devastating sometimes but the reward for telling the truth is much more desirable than the consequences of telling a lie.
These ideas are seen in Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman. Willy Lowman is the main character and he continually lies to make himself look like an upper class successful person. When in reality his whole life is barely hanging on by a thread. His two sons look up to him because he is their father, however Willy Lowman is not exactly a positive influence. He is more like a “Do as I say, not as i do” because he is the ultimate hypocrite!
Honesty is the best policy. The truth always wins, plus you will feel better for having a clear conscience.
References
Kennedy, X.J. & Giola, D. (1999). Critical approaches to literature. Literature:An introduction to fiction, poetry, and drama. New York: Longman.
Miller, A. (1949). Death of a salesman. New York: Penguin.
A presentation over ethics and examples from Death of a Salesman.
Willy Loman’s dream is to be really successful and have a lot of money. This is not an unreasonable dream, however, he is way too prideful to ever accomplish it because if he can’t get a white collar job then he doesn’t want a job at all.
Living on a farm and surviving off the fat of the land is Biff Loman’s dream. Unfortunately he will never accomplish this because he seeks his father’s approval. Willy raised his boys to never settle for blue collar jobs and not doing their own work but have people work for them. So Biff will probably not persue his dream, at least not while his father is alive.
Happy wants to be a sucessful business man with a hot wife that is strong and determined. Although, he has the same problem as his dad, pride. Also he is a womanizer and stuck in his old ways….he will probably not change.
My dream is to grow in my faith as a Christian and marry a man with the same beliefs and values and have a family. This is my desire, although I am content with whatever God has in store for me, because I know that my joy and happiness lies solely on my trust in Him.
Arthur Miller is known for writing more than 30 plays in his lifetime! A lot of times he uses things going on around him for inspirations for his stories; for example The Crucible is about the Salem Witch Trials and accusing people of crimes that they might or might not have done. Politically this was going in in society at the time that Miller was writing this piece. Wow! That is crazy! He is brave to use his writing to implement his opinion about what is going on in politics, it could either make him or break him. Even though it is not straightforward, his opinion is clear in the play. Miller claimed that he “looked to the Greeks for inspiration”. His work is infused with his sense of responsibility to humanity and to his audience.
Gallon, Rachel. Arthur Miller Biography. Retrieved January 25, 2012. Web.
