Goodner AP LANG & COMP 1

Ericsson’s “The Way We Lie” Analysis

Stephanie Ericsson’s “The Way We Lie”

Answer the following questions on rhetoric and style in Ericsson’s essay.

1. Why does Ericsson use a similar reference or discussion point to open and close—thus to
frame—her essay? In what ways does this strategy lead to cohesion?

Ericsson uses a similar discussion point to open and close thus to frame her essay
because it brings the essay full circle. She uses the reference to relate with the
audience about the lies we can make often in our lives and throughout the essay, she
uses sub-headings to highlight the variety and distinction between each lie.

2. Identify examples of informal language in this essay. Is it appropriate and effective or is it

distracting? Why?

Some examples of informal language used in this essay is when she says how she
lied to her client and said that the traffic was too bad so she couldn’t make the
meeting, but she actually was tired and lied. Another example is when she says
"You've got to stand for something you'll fall for anything." These are all effective
because these are describing why lying is bad and that these assertions are
important information.

3. Examine one section where Ericsson defines a type of lying. How would you describe this
structure? Examine another section. Is she repeating or varying the structure? For what
purpose?

One section called “The White Lie” is basically describing the act of lying in front of
someone’s face when someone tells the friend that he looks nice, but actually
looks like hell. Another section is “Deflecting” when you're hiding your true self from
the people and making yourself someone who you're not. She is talking about the
same topic which are lies, but each of the concepts are different in a way because
there are many ways to lie.

4. What is the intended purpose of the quotations at the start of each type of lie? Are they
meant to be humorous, inspirational, or ironic? How so?

The intended purpose of the quotations at the start of each type of lie is to make
people realize the effects of lying and how much it damages yourself. It’s meant for a
change and shown as bad reputations of an individual’s attitude and behavior.
 Goodner AP LANG & COMP 2
Ericsson’s “The Way We Lie” Analysis

5. Ericsson uses her personal experience to illustrate some but not all of her categories of
lying. I her allotment of personal reference effective, or does it fragment the essay? Why?

Her personal experience to illustrate some of her categories of lying are effective
in a way because she’s showing the audience that everybody lies at some point
of time, but there’s a way to control that mental behavior. It’s effective because
she’s showing the reasons behind her lies and why most people can’t control
them. She fragmented the different aspects of lies in her essay to show many
forms and meanings of lying and not just to show that there’s one way to lie
because there are many.

6. List the sources of Ericsson’s examples (such as business acquaintance, different authors,
the Bible, Pearl Harbor). Does this variety help her meaning, or is the range to wide to be
effective? Why?

The sources of her examples are random people, Churches, Father James Porter who
abuses children, the Bible, religious means, stereotypes, Pearl Harbor, America and
Japan, and other actions of lies. It does help her meaning and range of being effective
because she’s using random topics to show the effectiveness of lies and all of these
topics come together and show the real meaning.

7. Who is Ericsson’s audience for this essay? Is her purpose to accuse them, make them
think, dare them to stop lying, or something else? Why?

Her audience is for everyone reading her essay in the whole world and her
purpose is to not accuse them, but to try to find ways to stop lying and tell the truth.
She isn’t demanding, but wants people to realize that lies overcome you and
make you fall.

8. How would you describe Ericsson’s tone? Evidence?

Ericsson’s tone is shown by telling different stories about lying and this is
showing her wanting to reshape the world and make the place better by
decreasing the amount of lies said. She isn’t quite demanding, but her tone is to
convince others to change their bad instincts of lying and just tell more of the
truth because no matter how much the truth hurts, it’s at least better than lies
and it won’t cause any more consequences than committing the lies.