The Shy
“The Lie” was told by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. in a way that he was trying to teach a lesson to the reader about why it is good to tell you parents about things you are upset with. Eli the main character is the focus of the story. Eli failed the test to get into the White Hill School. He was feeling the pressure that his parents were putting on him because they wanted him to continue the name of the Remenzels at the White Hill School that the Remenzel family had gone to for 31 years before him. This is also aimed at the parents that read the story that you should not put so much pressure on children to be going to a particular school and not realize that the child may want to go to another school of their interest. Lying creates additional pressure on an individual, so face the consequences of the truth initially
To be begin with, this story also relates to people in real life because there are some parents that do that to their child whether it is just a mild case of them wanting to go to the school of the parent’s choice or if it’s a major case of them wanting them to only focus on that certain school. My parents do not care what schools I go to they just have a rule for now that I cannot move to far away from home because my mom does not want to be that far away from her youngest son. The one reason why my mom might not want me to leave is because she was an only child and she only had a mom not a dad so she most likely is use to being close to her family and not being separated from her family.
Although “The Lie” is a realistic story about a young kid that failed one of the most important tests to his parents, not the most important to him. Dr. Remenzel, Eli’s father had gone to the school years before his son was born and he was hoping that his son would be good enough to be in the school. When Eli failed the test it was every kids nightmare that you are not good enough for something that is why this story is so realistic is because it relates to almost every other kid.
Furthermore, that this story is a comedy because it starts with everyday life. Is because it takes place in the school with Dr. Remenzel looking at the rooms of the school. Conflict arises somehow in the car with Eli realizing that he failed the test and saying that in his mind that he had done that. After the conflict is realized Eli tries to plot his way into how to get out of it by thinking he can say nothing and they will never know what happened but he didn’t think they would find out when the asked the headmaster. When Dr. Remenzel and Mrs. Remenzel realized that he had failed the main test to getting into the school and him keeping it away from them, Dr. Remenzel got enraged and Mrs. Remenzel was just disappointed in her son. Eli, after being caught red handed by his father, when he finally indicated to his father that he should have had for an exception for his admittance fought back with courage. When the dust had settled after the fight he was back to the everyday life that it was before all this had even happened.
This story was a story that also represented a theme of telling the reader that it is sometimes not good to lie unless you are in a very bad situation in which you need to lie. The lie in this story in my opinion was not the best lie because if Eli were to tell his parents he would most likely be able to talk to him and tell them that this may not be the school he wanted to go to and that there are many more schools for which he had the potential.
