Buckley / Ericsson

Buckley / Ericsson

In their essays both Buckley and Ericsson analyze the different ways we use lies to help and hurt our self in our every day lives, and how this effects American culture. Ericsson shows the way lies can , as she puts it, " lubricate the daily machinery of living"(128). Buckley, on the other hand uses examples of lies as a way to deny himself; and do exactly the opposite of Ericsson. But they both show how we as Americans use lies these ways and others so much that most of us may not realize it.

Ericsson's essay was obviously about The Ways We Lie, mostly about the way we lie to other people to make their or your own life easier. Buckley's essay is not so obviously about lying, but if you read deeper into the text you can see how Buckley makes his life harder by lying to himself. When Ericsson is describing the white lie; she use the example of a friend telling another friend she looks good when the truth is she doesn't. This is exactly how we use lies to lubricate daily living, we avoid confrontation. " The liar deciding what is best for the lied to" (Ericsson 121). When Buckley describes the amount of discomfort he endured from the heat on the train, he imagines what would happen to the conductor in an age of more violence. "The passengers would seize the conductor and strap him down on a seat over the radiator to share the fate of his patrons" (64). He has strong feelings toward the conductor, because something has not already been done. When the conductor