Authors on Deception Essay

Submitted By BMond5
Words: 703
Pages: 3

Throughout our Eng. 101 course, we have covered several different authors who have delved into experiences and controversies involving deception. Although each author, Orwell, Haizlip and Viorst, writes about unique situations and occurrences concerning deception, all are issues pertaining to most if not all humans, including myself. Each required reading for me personally was a unique and intriguing doorway that opened to different paths upon personal reflection, question, and thought. Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell is a story involving a young, ill-educated, sub-divisional police officer stationed in lower Burma. His self-deception is put on display as he narrates his perception of how he is perceived and vice-versly from those around him. The writing specifically follows the decision to shoot an elephant and the consequences that may follow. In consciousness of Orwell’s experience, I have witnessed (and been a part of) actions that could have been solely based on the views of “on lookers”, even though personally I may have felt differently. Positions ranging from casually procrastinating to as unnerving as bullying solely based on miniscule differences. These outcomes (mostly mistakes) grounded from thoughts of others were mine alone to make, thus I accept full responsibility resembling Orwell as he must live with the decision he has made regardless of how or why it was made. I hope that I can not only recognize this truth but continue to implement positive changes to help better myself and those around me. Shirlee Haizlip wrote on the subject of “Passing”. The essay depicts several forms of deception and deceit. Including the deception of our own image in the eyes of others, their image portrayed in our eyes, and even how we identify with our own image. The term passing, the title of the writing, can even be defined as, “the deception that enables a person to adopt certain roles or identities from which he/she would be barred by prevailing social standards in the absence of his/hers misleading conduct.” (Kennedy, par. 1) Comparable to Orwell, we can all relate to the subject matter whether we do or do not consciously admit it. “Passing” helped me realize that while racial passing directly may not be overwhelmingly obvious in my personal everyday life, it represents itself in similar means. Such as how people adapt differently to unique social environments, parents input can alter personal belief as well as generally living of your life can change the deception of that belief and so forth. We must take into consideration that all distinctive circumstances may not be palpable as an individual but may concur in the lives of others or even in our own indirectly. Analogous to previously stated authors, Viorst’s essay on lying explores the subject/forms of deception. Naturally in deception and deceit itself, lying. She covers the subject by attempting to categorize the different reasoning of deceit