"The Crucible" by Arthur Miller.

Essay by thomas16crownA+, May 2003

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The Hungarian proverb, "Man was given a tongue with which to speak and words to hide his thoughts" has existed for centuries; it illustrates the unscrupulousness of lies. Throughout time, children have been taught honesty through literature. Many fairy tales and fables, by incorporating morals, enforce such essential lessons about life; The Boy Who Cried "Wolf!" being a specific example. Literature of this genre seeks to convey these morals into the lives of children; hopefully allowing them to grow into perfectly moral citizens. However, all that is seen when looking at the world today, amass with its countless problems, is lies and very little truth; one cannot help asking, what went wrong? What happened to the idealistic view of the world instilled in us as children? We have all lied countless times in our lives to divert an argument, resolve a problem quickly or simply avoid confrontation. Humans evolved this deceitfulness as adults mainly because lies surround us; the books we read, the movies we watch, the governments that rule us etc.

Due to our lie-corrupted world, and due to the negative lessons of history, the efforts of authors to confront this problem through literature are often misunderstood and misinterpreted.

The world in which we live is corrupt; politics makes it so. Most politicians from history have lied, and many still deceive us. Bill Clinton lied about his sex scandal; he also failed to tell the public that U.S jobs were being lost to the weapons market the he aggressively pursued. However, today, Bush is no exception. America is determined to attack Iraq and is not deterred in any way. Bush addressed the nation in his radio speech by saying, "The resolution requires Iraq to fully and unconditionally disarm itself of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons materials, as well as...