Regardless of the reason for which it occurs, lying allows the creation of a world in which individuals would want to live. The girls from “Girl, Interrupted”, the women from “Notes on Scandal”, Humbert Humbert in “Lolita” or William Styron in “Darkness Visible” all appeal to lies for creating the reality that they envision or for depicting the world in which they think they live. Juxtaposing two worlds, the imagined and the real one, the characters of the above mentioned readings and films balance their existence in the two worlds by appealing to lies, for justifying their dual existence. For some characters their lies are an expression of their mental illness (Susanna and Lisa in “Girl, Interrupted”, Barbara in “Notes on a Scandal” or William Styron in “Darkness Visible”). For others, lying is an outcome of their pervert nature (Humbert Humbert in “Lolita” or Sheba in “Notes on a Scandal”).
The desire to be with a minor girl makes Humbert Humbert a pedophile and a series liar. He marries Charlotte, Lolita’s mother only for being close to the girl, posing as a carrying step-father and a loving husband, when in fact all he could ever think of was to sexually possess Lolita. “would give me a chance to be alone with my Lolita for weeks, perhaps – and gorge the limp nymphet with sleeping pills” (Naobokov 80). The lies occur intentionally in Humbert’s case, as the man manipulates and deceits everybody, even the readers, in order to appear as innocent. “I am going to tell you something very strange: it was she who seduced me” (Nabokov 132). The man likes lying, as it offers him power to achieve his purposes and to mock people around him, posing as a carrying father when to cover what he actually was: an unscrupulous pedophile. For Humbert lying is like a game of chase, wherein complex strategies are built for the purpose of conquering the Queen, or the minor girl in Lolita’s case. For explaining his lack of interest for adult women and hoping to obtain understanding for his attraction toward the minors, he states: “All of which goes to show how dreadfully stupid poor Humbert always was in matters of sex” (Nabokov 24) This end depicts a selfish and pervert personality, one who feeds with lies for hiding an immoral existence. In Humbert’s case, lying is not a consequence of a mental illness, but an indication of a vicious mind. Because his lies harm others for selfish intentions, they can never be perceived as acceptable.
Similarly, Sheba Hart, the arts teacher who has a sexual relationship with a minor student, also appeals to lies for satisfying her own perverted nature. She lies to her family, posing as a devoted mother and wife. “something in me felt entitled. () I’ve been a decent wife, a dutiful mother coping with Ben.” (Sheba in Eyre, “Notes on a Scandal”). She is aware of her sexual deviation behavior and she wants to hide it by lying, aiming to convince others and herself that Steven, the minor she seduced was “quite mature for his age” (Sheba in Eyre, “Notes on a Scandal”). With this argument, the woman hopes to receive others’ understanding for the crime that she committed. Claiming that the boy “was not some innocent” (Sheba in Eyre, “Notes on a Scandal”) is similar with Humbert’s accusation that Lolita seduced him. Therefore, Sheba knows that pedophilia is amoral and wrong, but she continues her sexual relationship with a minor, although she promised to Barbara she would stop. This case also presents an individual who can recognize the right from wrong and nevertheless chooses the wrong (continuing the pedophilic relation), and covering it with lies. “I did! I told him I wouldn’t teach him anymore. But he refused to accept it, he just kept coming back. It began to feel like our secret, and well, secrets can be seductive.” (Sheba in Eyre, “Notes on a Scandal”). As in Humbert’s case, Sheba hurts people around her by lying. Because she was conscious about her lying and because she harmed people around her as a result of her lies, Sheba’s case does not makes lying acceptable, but on the contrary, condemnable.
There are various faces of lying in “Girl, Interrupted”, starting with Susanna who lied when she denied her suicidal attempt, Lisa, who lied for manipulating others, Georgina who was a compulsory liar or Daisy who lied because she was ashamed of admitting incestuous relations. In “Girl, Interrupted” lying is perceived as a psychological condition, in Georgina’s case who is a pathological liar, suffering of “pseudologia fantastica” (Mangold, “Girl, Interrupted”). Lisa is diagnosed as a sociopath and most of the times she tells the truth as she sees it, directly, brutally, aggressively, and in her case it is the truth not the lies that harms others. Her truth telling about Daisy having a sexual relationship with her father pushed Daisy to committing suicide. However, Lisa appeals to lying to achieve her purposes or to annoy people. She does not distinguish between right and wrong and she manipulates the truth depending on her intentions. She tells the truth bluntly as she sees it for making fun (“They didn’t release you because you got better, they just gave up” (Mangold, “Girl, Interrupted”)) or lies, when lying brings her satisfactions, such as deceiving the nurses about taking the pills.
Daisy is aware of her wrongdoing of consenting to an incestuous relation with her father. Nevertheless she lies about it, hiding the truth in lies about her father buying her an apartment as a carrying parent, not as a lover, as the real situation actually was. “My father knew that I deserved my own apartment” (Daisy in Mangold, “Girl, Interrupted”). Although nobody believes her lies, it seems that Daisy sometimes believes them. And when she faces the situation as it is, when she sees the reality of her incestuous relationship with her father, she becomes a self-harmer, cutting her wrists. In the end, when confronted by Lisa who tells her the truth as it is about Daisy having an incestuous relationship with her father, she commits suicide. It is not clear whether lying got Daisy to harming herself, but it contributed to it by not admitting and not facing the reality.
Susanna’s case reveals a borderline personality, or, as she analyzes herself in the movie, ambivalent nature, implying strong believes that are contradicting each other. Her question “Am I sane or insane?” (Mangold, “Girl, Interrupted”) shows her ambivalence, as the girl is caught between a sane and an insane personality. Susanna’s lying about her suicidal attempt might actually not be a lie if the girl approached the suicidal episode from the part of her sane ambivalent personality that. In this case lying although not justified or morally accepted, cannot be blamed. When individuals cannot differentiate lying from truth telling, the intention of lying does not exist, which implies that the lie that they say represent the truth of the reality that they create.
The same situation describes Barbara’s case from “Notes on a Scandal”. The spinster history teacher designed a reality in her diary notes based on which she guided her daily existence. Unlike Susanna, who experienced contradicting realities of a sane and an insane person, Barbara only had one reality, the one that she created for herself. She lived outside the real world as it was, and envisioned a world of herself. In Barbara’s case, lying is a mental condition, as she does not realize that she is lying. She considers that she speaks the truth when she confirms Sheba her perceived relationship with her. “Don’t diminish our” (Barbara in Eyre, “Notes on a Scandal”). Nevertheless, even in her imagined world, Barbara still finds room for lying intentionally when she guarantees to Sheba “Anything you tell me will be in strictest confidence” (Barbara in Eyre, “Notes on a Scandal”). With the intention to lie comes the agreement to wrongdoing. There is no difference between Humbert’s lying for being with Lolita sexually and Barbara’s lying for the same purpose, of having a relationship with the Sheba. Although Humbert could differentiate reality from imagination and Barbara could not, they both lied intentionally, whether in the real or the imaged world in which each lived, making lying intolerable as it was generated by conscious, negative intentions.
In his self-analysis of his depression evolution, William Styron describes lying to oneself and by extent, to others. In “Darkness Visible”, Styron tells the story of his realization that he suffered of critical depression and how he tried to hide it by blaming his sudden mod changing on his decision to give up alcohol, for instance. Styron also depicts his lying behavior when he realized that he intentionally lost the $25.000 check that he earned for winning the “Prix Mondial Cino Del Duca” (Styron, Durkness Visible). The author understands that he intentionally lost the check because in his subconscious he did not feel worthy of winning the prize, although earlier he confessed to be honored to receive it. When Styron expressed his honor of receiving the prize he lied for being socially acceptance. When he lost the check, he lied about losing it accidentally hiding the fact that he did not feel worthy of the prize. The man caused no harm to anybody other than himself, but still he lied. Lying in Styron’s case is an expression of his depression that makes him change his state of mind in a sudden manner. Lying justifies his depression and alleviates his sadness. Depression is an illness and lying is an outcome of this illness. In Styron’s case, although lying is still wrong, he cannot be considered immoral for lying, only ill.
Works Cited
Eyre, Richard. Notes on a Scandal. Los Angeles: Fox Searchlight Pictures. 2006. Film.
Mangold, James. Girl, Interrupted. Columbia: Columbia Pictures. 1999. Film.
Nabokov, Vladimir. Lolita. New York: Random House. 1955. Print.
Styron, William. Darkness Visible. New York: Random House. 1900. Print.
