Literature circle blogpost 2#

2. Why does Jonas find the instruction about lying so disturbing?


Now firstly I would like to express and share my ideas on lying. I think that it's not a very principled thing to do but in some cases it can be necessary. Lying is pretty much always bad, you can start with one lie and build up into many more so in most situations it' s best to tell the truth.  Sometimes lying can make others feel good though. For example, person 1#, "is my dress nice?" person 2# "yea." This lying isn't as important as real lying so I wont go any deeper into it. Overall I think lying is not the correct thing to do. If told to lie that is no exception although for Jonas it is different. He is used to following instructions therefore he has to do what he is told. He may be unsure and disturbed about his orders but if he is told to do something he does it.  You don't refuse the law without being punished.  


I think that when told to lie, Jonas is very disturbed because in his community he is very used to following the rules and telling the truth. He has always been a good student with courage, knowledge and integrity. This is known because in the book is was stated that he had all of these factors when he was selected for the new receiver of memory. This has an affect on Jonas when he is ordered to lie because he is you could say "a goody two shoes." In this sense I mean he is very innocent and well behaved. Because he is so used to telling the truth it must be like breaking one of the rules. For example it would be like Lily riding a bike before she was of the required age. She would be breaking the rules and she would have felt very guilty.


Jonas must have been in a very uncomfortable situation when he was asked to lie. Its either obey or don't obey.  In both situations Jonas would have felt uncomfortable.  If he obeyed and lied he would have felt guilty because it's not what he's used to. If he didn't lie he would have probably been punished for disobeying. If I were him I would probably obey and try to avoid guilt. 


Overall I think that Jonas would feel disturbed about lying because he is not used to it . My other reason is the following, Being a star student as said when he was selected for the receiver of memory he would have not wanted to disobey the rules.