Patrick NgoMs. ChalupskyEnglish 8 SM29 January 2018The Problematic Ways of Dishonesty in Short StoriesWhile completing an everyday task, one may lie to them self or be dishonest to others. Dishonesty can cause several problems, or enlarge existing conflicts. By being true to oneself, one can avoid future problems, prevent issues from growing larger, and understand the solution to previous mistakes.Dishonesty is a major component in Tessie Hutchinson’s personality in Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery”, causing her to be ignorant of what would kill her later. Tessie Hutchinson has adjusted to the tradition of her village, where one is being sacrificed in order to obtain a good harvest for the harvesting season. Participating in the lottery for several years has allowed Tessie Hutchinson to make herself believe that she will not be affected by the lottery, explaining why she, “‘clean forgot what day it was.” Up until the point where she has been chosen to be stoned to death, Tessie never objected to the tradition and takes the tradition unseriously because she believes that she will not be chosen. By thinking that she will not be chosen, Tessie subconsciously allows herself to think the lottery as no threat, although she understands this is not true. By not keeping true to her own beliefs of the tradition, Tessie suffered from her lies once they did not provide her mental protection. The tradition of the village is only ignored when it poses no threat, but Tessie is taken by surprise when she is chosen to be killed for something she never perceived as a threat. If she were to object to the tradition, she would have been able to remove the chances of being sacrificed and would be able to understand the problematic ways of her tradition.Believing that putting off problems will remove them does not work in Guy de Maupassant’s short story, “The Necklace”, and instead causes a married couple to pay a larger price than they needed to for their mistakes. Mathilde Loisel demands to live the life of the upper class, believing that she deserved, “silent chambers, draped with Oriental tapestries and lighted by tall bronze floor lamps, and of two handsome butlers in knee breeches” (Maupassant 1). After demanding a dress from her husband, Mme. Loisel needed the final piece to complete her look, a large diamond necklace which was only a fake provided by her friend Mme. Forestier. After losing the fake necklace, M. and Mme. Loisel planned on never revealing the truth because they believed that the lost necklace was real, causing them to lie to Mme. Forestier and pay for their mistake. As martyrs, the Loisels did not want to ruin their social reputation by telling to truth, which would cause dishonesty to lead to their downfall. For ten years, the Loisels worked jobs in order to buy a replacement while wasting their time on replacing the fake. Working for a decade improved Mathilde’s work effort, but if the Loisels were honest in the first place, they would not have to work as hard. Even though this would not change Mathilde, the Loisels would have been able to find out that they could pay much less for their mistakes. Rather than understanding the solution to mistakes, the government in Vonnegut’s short story, “Harrison Bergeron”, achieve widespread equality, by handicapping those with skill, rather than improving others. One example of these skilled people is George Bergeron, a gifted man with a simple wife, along with a handicap that regularly interrupts his thought process. The government has been using these handicaps for its society but has a different set of requirements for George Bergeron’s fourteen-year-old son, Harrison. George’s son Harrison Bergeron was, “a man that would have awed Thor, the god of thunder” (Vonnegut 4), due to his intelligence, beauty, and physical strength. By holding back the power of Harrison, the government has allowed Harrison to grow to become stronger than each restraint that he is given. By not allowing people to rise up and improve, the government holds people back unjustly, and are unfair to several people. Rather than providing the same amount for each person in their society, the government can only allow people to not improve, in order to keep all standards low so that the government can continue to rule. Not only is this unjust, but dishonest to all citizens not having a role in the government, because the people with good character traits such as intelligence are held back for less intelligent people. Instead, Harrison is able to show the government that handicapping the powerful only allows their power to grow and that their dishonest way of government is only allowing the people to become stronger.These three short stories have shown the incorrect ways of dishonesty and their negative impacts others. In each story, those who become dishonest to themselves allowed their problems to grow larger or stronger, while others who only hid the issue allowed their problem to cost them more. Not only do characters create issues, but also allow their problems to grow larger while deterring development and improvement. Instead, by being true to oneself, and admitting that the problem has been created and is already at hand, one can instead prevent issues from being created or becoming larger and solve problems that one has.Works CitedJackson, Shirley. The Lottery. 1948.Maupassant, Guy de. The Necklace. 1884.Vonnegut, Kurt. Harrison Bergeron. 1961.