Lessons And Lies In Kurt Vonnegut's Short Story, The Lie

Lessons and lies:Theme in,”The Lie” In Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s short story, “The Lie,” the protagonist named Eli, was supposed to be the 31st in his family to attend Whitehill Boarding School. Unfortunately he did not get accepted, and withheld that news from his parents in which led to an uncomfortable and tense car ride. The author suggested that this wasn’t out of the ordinary and that Eli had a strained relationship with them. When they finally arrived Eli ran out of the room when he saw the headmaster, so he wasn’t in the room when his intense and judgmental father heard the news. One lesson that the story demonstrates is when parents and children don't have open communication but instead have strict and high expectations, their parent-child relationship becomes unhealthy. From the beginning of the short story, the author gave detailed descriptions of the car ride showing Eli’s father’s harshness. He was unreasonable and demanding of Eli as well as Eli’s mom, Sylvia. Vonnegut tells how “He noticed that Eli slumped way down in the front seat. ‘Eli!’ he said sharply. ‘Sit up straight!’ He returned his attention to Sylvia.” This quote shows that Eli’s father, Doctor Remenzel, harshness shows his strict, high …show more content…
This leads to “The doctor ordered a Martin, then turned to his son and said,’Your mother has the idea that you’re entitled to special privileges around here. I hope you don’t have that idea too.’ ‘No, sir,’ said Eli. ‘It would be a source of the greatest embarrassment to me.” said Doctor Remenzel with considerable grandeur, ‘if I were ever to hear that you had used the name Remenzel as though you thought Remenzels were something special.’ ‘I know,’ said Eli wretchedly.” This shows the guarded communication style amongst the family has a gloomy and overwhelming feeling when they