Doing something to improve our circumstances is better than being angry and complaining.

From our story “The Liar” by Tobias Wolff we learn that Mother was a “lighter of candles” and so were her two daughters and son Michael. Father loved to “curse the dark” and had great influence on his younger son James.

This dynamic existed between Mother and Father from the beginning – before their children were born. True to life the children simply took sides.

So why is it better to light a candle than to curse the darkness?

In his book entitled Flipping the Switch, John Miller says:

“When faced with a problem or frustration, our minds first tend to fill with questions like “Why is this happening to me?” and “When will others do things right?”

These questions are natural and understandable, but by focusing on everything and everyone except the person asking them, they demonstrate a lack of personal accountability.

It’s only when we stop and look behind those first questions that we find better ones. . . . such as “What can I do?” and “How can I contribute?”

Asking these questions turns the focus back to ourselves and to what we can do to make a difference. It’s nearly impossible to overstate the positive impact this simple change in focus can have on our lives!”

Why is James a liar?

To ask why James is a liar? is to ask why some light candles and some curse the dark. It’s hard to say, but we do know that James and his father are driven by fearful expectations of things turning out badly.

We think of James as the imaginative one with his creative embellishment of the truth. Yet James says:

“I thought of Mother singing “O Magnum Mysterium,” saying grace, praying with easy confidence, and it came to me that her imagination was superior to mine. She could imagine things as coming together, not falling apart”.

Summary

“The Liar” by Tobias Wolff is about a teenage boy, James, whose morbid fears result in lies concerning the deteriorating health of his mother. When she discovers that he has written a friend that she is suffering from a mysterious illness, which is totally untrue, she calls on Dr. Murphy, her friend and family physician. She wants him to cure James’ habit of romancing the truth, aka lying.

James is moved to deep introspection based on his conversation with the doctor. He remembers occasions in his past that lead to memories of his father’s death from cancer.

This death is somehow connected with the morbid lies James tells. As he confronts his father’s death, he recalls other episodes in his past, particularly a trip to Yosemite.

It was here that his mother’s strength of character was revealed. When a bear wanders into camp, mother forcefully drives it off with her shouting and rock throwing.

Although he admires her forthright way of dealing with things, his approach is indirect and eccentric like his father’s. James’ style of telling morbid lies is more aligned with his father’s neurotic temperament.

Although his mother is active in the church and the community, his irascible father will not take up causes or join groups, and is content to remain at home as if afraid of the outside world.

Even though he realizes his mother is a better family manager and the more loving parent, James feels he has more in common with his father. He particularly identifies with the father’s use of word games as a way to cope with the fear and anxiety to which they both are predisposed.

Theme

The primary focus of this story concerns the transformation of James’ persona as an incorrigible liar into an imaginative storyteller not unlike Tobias Wolff.

The ending feels mystical, magical, religious. James entertains and enthralls those present with his version of an “ancient and holy tongue”. He is becoming a truly imaginative storyteller. His transformation from a morbid liar to one who tells stories that illuminate is truly edifying. He is becoming a “lighter of candles.”

Take away

The author’s interest in families and the unconditional love that holds them together despite dysfunction makes this story well worth reading!

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