We can analyze if Meursault was psychologically ill for telling the truth, especially for being so crude at the time to do so, for appearing to be so insensitive and because he did not feel regret for his actions. He was able to bring honesty he felt in his heart to the limit making even us think that is precisely what he has not.
Another characteristic we can highlight from this character is his lack of concern for others, for what others think about him, for how they could react and especially the feelings and opinions that surround him. This is perhaps what draws more our attention, we're not used to get answers that may not be what we expect, cold and insensitive answers. We preferred to hear a lie because it is more "educated" in other words we prefer to hear exactly what we want to hear. And when is not like this, when we hear things as they are, we felt uncomfortable and we began to see in a bad way the person who told us that comment that clearly was not what we were waiting.
The second character who speaks about truth is Paulina. She shows us the importance of defending the truth, especially our truth. She knows what she would have to face, to the charges, complaints, everything that could happen. But she is so sure of what she knows, of what she feel, that nothing would stop her to finally find that, the truth she have been looking for so long with despair.
One important note is that Paulina is not looking to make it public. She just wants to hear it again, she wants to find the guilty and especially what she wants is that this guilty be aware of what he do. We can discuss the different reasons why Paulina decides to do that, to recall the past and not let it go.
Why she wants to hear the story from the lips of this man? Perhaps some will consider it as an act of pride, others consider it as a form of therapy. I see it as finally be able to leave everything behind, like a new beginning. Knowing that it was not her fault that it was someone else’s fault and knowing that this man is going to live carrying all this guilty in his consciences. In this case I consider that the influence of truth is important for the development and continued growth of the character of Paulina, that this was the only way she could continue her life.
But now we have to see the other path: Lying. As we have seen lying is easier than telling the truth, and there are different ways of doing it: (lying for omission, commission, over exaggeration and under exaggeration). Lying is part of our day to day. Is so simple as omitting a name, a number with an objective, we do not want that other person to know because of his reaction. Or sometimes we lie to ourselves because we already know the truth, we refuse to see admit it, looking for other excuses.
And is dangerous when we reach a point when we believe our own lies. Because if this happens, then our world would begin to distort, and we would begin to complicate about what truth is and what a lie is.
Blanche, has reached this limit. She believes in a story that she has mentally made up about who she is. Losing in this way her true identity, believing she is someone she really is not. How do his happen? For self-deception, because she was not satisfied with whom she was, and because she knows that lying she would get the attention and respect of others, which is what she is looking for.
So we see that unlike the other two first characters, she does care and a lot of what others think about her. And she usually is based on these opinions to keep changing and in the same way continue lying herself. Creating in this way a personality she doesn’t have, with the only purpose of feeling that she is reaching perfection in others eyes.
Finally we see an epithet of what denial means: Eddie. Similarly, he lies to himself simply because he does not want to admit something, because he knows is perverse. Unlike Blanche, he is not guided by others comments, he cares more of what he feels, especially for what his conscience may dictate him.
For Eddie lying is very simple, and he does it all the time, he lies to his wife, to his niece, friends and others. But for the way he then acts after every lie, we can see that both he tries to deny and hide something that would finally come to light.
In conclusion lie and truth will always be two ways that are going to be present in our life. It is important to keep in mind the value of truth, that even if it hurts, it will be always the best choice for us. Lying usually takes you to continue doing so, to create something that will be very difficult to go back. We should think what is best, lest take for example the life of these characters, that being extremism is not the solution. If we decide to tell the truth, we must take into account how others will react and that would be the best way to tell it. No one says that truth is easy, but at least it would helps us to keep our soul and conscience clean.
by
alexandra8 (student)
