I always find it interesting to reread a book. There's always new things to notice each time. In The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks if you don't know what is going to happen the end it's somewhat of a surprise to you. Reading it a second time I know what's coming, but it makes me question the dads decision. He's sick and dying and he knows it. He knows he'll only have this summer with his kids and that will be pretty much it. It must be a hard thing to deal with, knowing your going to die. He has to spend time with his kids knowing it's his last months with them. And the worst part is he hides it. His kids, Ronnie and Jonah, have no idea. At one point in the story Ronnie, his daughter, asks him if he's ok because of the way he's acting and he says yes. He lies to her. He lies and says he's fine. He says the doctors said he was fine when he very well knows it's not true. He lies right to his daughter's face.
That made me think about what we've been talking about in class, about ethics. Like if it's ever ok/justifiable to do the wrong thing or lie. To me when at first thinking about this question my reaction was no, it's not ok. Lying always hurts someone in the end even if that person is you. But then I started thinking about what if you're lying to protect someone? Of course you want to lie because you care about them and you know the truth will hurt, but sometimes lies can make it hurt even more. So maybe it's just not ok to lie.
The dad was trying to protect Ronnie and of course he never meant to hurt her, but in the end the lie I think hurt her even more. When she finds out the truth she's not only upset that he's sick, but that he didn't tell her. The lie only hurt her more. But then again it wouldn't have been the same summer if Jonah and Ronnie had known their dad was sick. Everything that happened, good and bad, would have been so different. Ronnie most likely wouldn't have spent so much time with Will. But I think the Dad loved seeing her fall in love anyway. He got to rebuild their relationship without it just being because she felt sorry for him.
Overall though, I don't think it's ok to lie. Lies only complicate the situation and make everything end up worse then it'd could've been. The dad was only trying to protect Ronnie, but in the end I think she deserved the truth from the start.
I like how you try to distinguish some features in the book that could be questioned ethically. But the thing is in this book, everyone has a different point of view. This reminds me of when our class talked about whether if it was good to label things and wrong. I'd really liked to hear more of your opinions and relations to this book though. What if a person was just lying to save everyone from grief? I'd loved to hear more about that. I mean, I know lying is terrible, but maybe it's the best decision. Nice job anyways!
ReplyDeleteMolly, I enjoyed this blog post but try to think about the possible outcomes of book, like think about what would happen if the situation went a different way. If Ronnies dad told her the truth from the gecko, would it hurt her more to know then? Good Job though!
ReplyDeleteanne-
ReplyDeletethank you. that is kinda of what i was thinking about when writing this. does that make his lying ok? he did make a smart choice in a way to keep his sickness from her, but knowing you've been lied to for a whole summer by your father about his health even when you've asked him about it could be even more upsetting. either way i think ronni was going to get hurt, but its a little unclear if he did the "right" thing. the whole story would have been totally different if she had known and he hadn't lied, but maybe then her and her fathers relationship wouldn't of been as real. it could of just been out of pity.
raven-
thank you! it's pretty much what i just said, but it would have totally changed things if she had known the truth all along. at the beginning she didn't have a good relationship with her father at all. if she had known he was sick then maybe she would've just been nice to him cause she felt bad. the relationship that they ended up building wouldn't have been as real. they were able to make a true, strong relationship and by the time it was really good she found out he was sick, but maybe that's better. she got one amazing summer with her dad not knowing he was sick, it wouldn't have been the same if she had known the truth. but does that make his lying ok? im still not sure.