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"'Did you mean to hit the policeman?' I said 'Yes'"

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"Mother had not had a heart attack. Mother had not died. Mother had been alive all the time. And Father had lied about all this."

This example of lying to try to save one's feelings shows that it doesn't always work. Christopher feels sick after finding this out.

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"And this is why everything I have written here is true." page- 20

This gave me an insight into Christophers head and how he thinks. Everything in this book and in his book is true.

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"And then he held up his right hand and spread his fingers out in a fan so that I could touch his fingers, but I didn't because I was frightened."

Ed's lie had scared Christopher enough to not want to talk or be near him.

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"A lie is when you say something happened that didn't. But there is only ever one thing that happened at a particular time and place"
This gives me an idea of how christopher views lying and what lying means to him.

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"Are you telling the truth Christopher?"

Even though Christopher always tells the truth, it seems that a lot of people still seem to not belive him.

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pg. 14

"because telling lies about people is called slander"

This example shows the readers how christopher views lying. He believes lying is wrong.

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He said "Do you know that it is wrong to lie to a policeman and that you can get into a very great deal of trouble if you do?"

This shows the consequences of lying and even if your telling the truth you might get in trouble.

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"and he always tells me the truth which means he loves me" -this relates to our question "is telling the truth always the right thing to do"-telling someone the truth always, even after they do something bad can be apart of someones love language

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"I did it for your good Christopher. Honestly. I never meant to lie"
Chirstopher's dad lied to Christopher about his mom's death for his own good. Does this make that lie morally acceptable?

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"Mother had been alive all the time. And father had lied about this."

This is an instance where the truth shouldve been told to Christopher instead hiding it from him. In the end it really hurt him and ran away. Sometimes telling the truth is the right thing to do so that you dont lose peoples trust

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"Then Father went silent for a bit. Then he said, 'I'm sorry Christopher. I promise you, I never meant for it to turn out like this'"

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"Sometimes we get sad about things and we don't like to tell other people that we are sad about them. We like to keep it a secret. Or sometimes, we are sad but we really don't know why we are sad, so we say we aren't sad but we really are.” page 75

This quote explains that sometimes we keep secrets from others to spare their feelings. It proves that telling the truth isn't always the right thing to do because it could hurt someone's feelings or make their day just as sad

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"A lie is when you say something happened when it didn't happen" - Christophers own definition of a lie. We all have our own definitions of a lie. This is what Christophers definition of a lie is.

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"It's not a lie, it's a good lie" - Dr. Song

Billie feels it is wrong to lies because she is keeping something from her grandma. The doctor believes it is a good lie because it is protecting her.

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"Look maybe I shouldn't say this, but...I want you to know that you can trust me. And...OK maybe I don't tell the truth all the time...I killed Wellington Christopher."

This is an example of how much lying can affect someone, even if it was to protect them or to not hurt their feelings. After this, Christopher didn't say a word to his father and ran away.

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"... the word metaphor is a metaphor. I think it should be called a lie because a pig is not like a day and people do not have skeletons in their cupboards. And when I try and make a picture of the phrase in my head it just confuses me..."

Christopher believes that metaphors are just lies that people use with a different title. Even though telling truth is the right thing to do, people find ways to justify it.

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"Say goodbye? That's too painful. Why would you want her to go through that? She seems normal right now."

This shows another perspective on whether or not it's morally acceptable to lie. It shows that sometimes it isn't through Billi's eyes, but not necessarily her families.

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I replied, "Yes I don't tell lies."
And she said, " I apologize. I didn't mean to suggest that you were lying. I just wondered if I heard you correctly."

This can show that sometimes people hear something that is wrong so their truth is different from the actual truth. That can affect how it makes someone feel.

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"isnt that wrong to life?...its not a lie,its a good lie."
The doctor was telling Billi that lying to Nai Nai wants really a lie because they believe they are protecting her by not telling her there for this lie is justified

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"That's the difference between the East & the West... Our lives are part of a whole... It's our responsibility to carry that emotional burden for her"

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"Its not the cancer that kills, its the fear"

Billies family was explaining to her why this lie is okay but to Billie, it is still not acceptable, even if it has good intention.

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" Its not that cancer that kills you, its the fear."

This connects back to my chosen question because, even though Billie thought it would be better if Nai Nai knew she was dying. She got and understood why her family kept her sickness a secret.

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" i know you do, christopher. But sometimes we get sad about things and we don't like to tell other people that we are sad about them. We like to keep it a secret. Or sometimes we are sad but we don't really know we are sad. So we say we aren't sad. But really we are. " - siobhan pg 75

This quote explains that some lies can just be honest secrets. It makes lies justifiable because you are lying about your feelings rather just keeping them to yourself and figuring them out.

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"I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want you to worry."

This is Billi telling Nai Nai about the fellowship. This lie isn't as serious or toxic as other ones, but still counts. This is a good example of a lie with no harm, like planning a surprise party. Something like this is one of the reasons I previously believed lying is morally acceptable.

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"Mother had not had a heart attack. Mother had not died. And Father had lied about this."

This shows in Christopher's case that telling the truth is better than lying because Christopher didn't feel too well after reading the letters. His relationship with his father was different now, he couldn't see him the same way.

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"If you tell her, you won't feel guilty" - Billie's uncle

Billie's family tries to explain to her that the lie they are telling Nai Nai is only to protect her as Billie feels extreme guilt for not doing so. As telling Nai Nai would lead Billie to less guilt but Nai Nai more pain.

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"No matter, how sad you are, you must not tell her"

This shows that keeping something from someone comes with guilt. The movie depicts this throughout the movie. However, at the end Nai Nai ended up living longer because she didnt have to live in fear. This is an instance where keeping the truth from someone is a good thing, a good lie

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"No matter what, you can not tell her."

The whole family is keeping a secret from their grandma and no matter how bad they feel about it, they decided it would be what's best for the grandma to not know.

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" We don't need a big wedding banquet, we just came to spend time with you.

This helps me understand my question better because, its showing me that some lies are acceptable Nai Nai was insisting on a big wedding banquet when in reality the people getting married barley knew each other and just came up with the wedding idea to get everyone together for Nai Nai.

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"And then Ye Ye died. You didn't even tell me he was sick." - Billi
"We did what we thought was best for you."
- Billi's Mom

Billi is frustrated that they had not say anything about her grandfather while her mom makes it an other-oriented lie, to protect Billi from knowing.

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"It's not the cancer that'll kill her, it's the fear."

They didn't tell the grandma because they think that her living in fear is what will kill her , instead of the cancer itself. That's why they decided to lie.

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" we don't tell the patients because the family carries the burden so they don't have too "

This is justifiable for not telling the truth because its not lying straight up its preserving feelings they have the intentions of telling her eventually but want her to enjoy as much as she can while she can.

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"isn't it wrong to lie? ... Its not really a lie... Its still a lie... Its a good lie"

This helps me understand my question because the lie that Billie and her family are telling isn't really a lie lie. The lie isn't hurting anyone. The lie is for the betterment of someone.

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"医生说了阴影是良性的（The doctor said the shadow is benign）"

This from beginning, the little nai nai told the nai nai that her condition was benign and she was in good health. The little grandma didn't want the big grandma to worry about her health.

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"father said you were dead" mom replied with "oh my god"
this quote shows how trying to protect someone by lying isnt the right thing to do. When christophers dad lied about his mom he stole the opportunity for christopher to freely make decisions based on the facts of reality.

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"Mother had not had a heart attack. Mother had not died. Mother had been alive all the time. And father had lied about this". - This quote shows Christophers opinion on a lie. Christophers dad had lied about his mother being dead and Christopher felt unwell after finding this out. This had made Christopher feel and express real emotions that he was having at the time.

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"We're not telling Nai Nai because it's our duty to carry this emotional burden for her." - Billi's Uncle

He justifies again why this lie is a good lie, for the better. He (and others) want her to live happily with the time she has left, without the fear of dying.

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"It's a book I'm writing. " And he said is true? Did you talk to Mrs. Alexander?" He said this very quietly as well, so I still didn't  that he was angry. And I said,"Yes".

Christopher will always tell the truth even if tell a lie could get him out of trouble. He broke his promise with his dad to not try and figure out who killed the dog.

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"But isn't it wrong to lie?" - Bili
"When a family member is sick, most families in China choose not to tell them they have cancer...it's a good lie." - Dr. Song

This shows that many families lie to protect the ones they love, but Bili was being affected by the lie because she didn't want to.

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"Telling the truth is selfish"

Keeping the truth from someone spares their feelings. You wouldnt want them to live in sadness

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"its our duty not to tell Nai Nai,because its our duty to take the emotional burden for her"
They believe that Nai Nai not knowing about the cancer will make the time she has left more peaceful and happy not knowing that shes dying.

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"It is a good lie".

This quote shows didn't perspective on the lie in this film. The doctor feels this lie is a good one because it would protect Billies grandmother.

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"People say that you always have to tell the truth. But they do not mean this because you are not allowed to tell old people that they are old and you are not allowed to tell people if they smell funny or if a grown-up has made a fart. And you are not allowed to say, "I don't like you," unless that person has been horrible to you."

Christopher is saying that there is a right time to tell the truth and a wrong time.

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"Mother had not had a heart attack. Mother had not died. Mother had been alive all this time." page 112

This quote tells us that the dad was lying to chris his whole life. It shows us that these type of lies aren't always the right thing to do since it killed chris when he found out about this

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Pg. 5

"I also started with the dog because it happened to me and I find it hard to imagine things which did not happen to me"

This shows Christopher is truthful and only likes to tell what he has gone through. He choices to be truthful and not make up stories.

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"It's not the cancer that kills, it's the fear"

This quote was from Billies mother. She expressed that they should not tell the grandmother because they believe that it is not the cancer that will kill, it is the fear that people get when they find out the have cancer. So this shows one perspective about how they should not tell the grandmother she is sick.

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"Please Christopher...let me explain." - Christopher's father.

Christopher's father explains on why he had hid the truth from Christopher and then a chain of events has happened from that lie since he (Chris) found out the truth. Christopher has lost trust from his father and begins his journey to his mom who is alive apparently.

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"You can feel sad, but no matter how sad you get, you can't tell her."

This can bring some emotional issues between families because you're hiding something important. I think this made Bili struggle and stress the whole time she was in China.

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"I do not tell lies. Mother used to say that this was because I was a good person. But it not because I am a good person. It is because I can't tell lie."

Christopher believes that he can't tell lies but if he can tell lies but if he lies he will lie about everyone if stuff he knows that's not true.

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"Because telling lies about people is called slander"

This shows Christophers opinion on lying and how the thinks of people who lie. He thinks its wrong to lie

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Then I stopped reading the letter because I felt sick. Mother had not had a heart attack. Mother had been alive all the time. And Father had lied about this.

Christopher doesn't like people telling white lies, he says that he can't trust people that lie and especially a lie like this.

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"It's not the cancer that kills her, it's the fear."

Even though telling the truth is very risky in this sitaution, it's still the right thing to do. Anyone deserves to know the truth about their health regardless of the circumstances.

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"Isn't wrong to lie" and Doctor Song said " It's not a lie, it's a good lie"

It is wrong to lie about something so important but they are lying because they want to protect her and they didn't want her to live in fear.

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"Isn't it wrong to lie?"

Billi was really concerned about the whole situation. She knew that lying to Nai Nai was wrong but she did it to protect her.

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"it's not a lie, it's a good lie"

The doctor said it was a good lie because everyone believed it was protecting billie's feelings, when in reality it hurt more than telling her because she felt lied to, as well as left out

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"And he said, "Christopher, I'm really, really sorry. About everything. About Wellington. About the letters. About making you run away. I never meant...I promise I will never do anything like that again. Hey. Come on, kiddo."

After everything went down between Christopher, finding out the truth about what really happened with his mother as well as Wellington and finding out that it was his father behind it all the entire time, he distanced himself from his father and his trust in him was lost. His father felt guilty because of the lies he told and he kept apologizing to Christopher with regretting his actions that he thought was best for Christopher. In this case, all the lies his father told him was not the right thing to do because the consequence was suffering on both ends so telling the truth would have been the better thing to do even if that seemed hard as well.

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"Then he put his hand on my shoulder and moved me onto my side and he said, "Oh Christ." But it didn't hurt when he touched me, like it normally does. I could see him touching me, like I was watching a film of what was happening in the room, but I could hardly feel his hand at all. It was just like the wind blowing against me."

As Christopher found out the truth of what really happened to his mother and that his father made up a lie as a cover up to what really happened with his mom he began to feel numb as he was accepting the fact that his mom was alive the entire time and his dad kept that truth away from him. If his father told him the actual truth of what really happened between him and his mother who knows how Christopher would've reacted but finding out the truth on his own was hard on him and he didn't really know how to feel about it.

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Billi's aunt doesn't think the family should tell Nai Nai about her illness and how bad her condition is because she believes that the terrible news about her health and how much she has to live because of her cancer will ruin her happiness that she has being with all of her family. The auntie thinks it is best to keep the secret from Nai Nai so that she can continue being in a good mood as she is now without having to worry or be depressed. This part in the movie helps me understand more of why it is best to keep telling this lie to Nai Nai because the family is just trying to protect her emotional peace and happiness. This made me think that telling the truth might not always be the best thing as long as your keeping secrets in for good genuine intentions for the other person, just like the family is doing for Nai Nai.

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Billi's uncle told her that it is their duty to protect Nai Nai and keeping this big secret from her and lying to her about her condition is necessary because it is their way of protecting her by holding that emotional burden for Nai Nai. This scene in the movie helped me understand that it is a good thing in a way that the family is holding this lie in together because it is their way of protecting Nai Nai's peace and happiness and that is their true intentions of telling this lie. As long as you're holding in the truth for good intentions then it is okay to lie however the guilt is still there and inescapable.

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" it is a good lie "

this quote shows me and makes me understand more about the film and how comfortable the family is lying to Nai Nai about her being ill. The doctor confirming that many families lie about this to families does not really help Billi process that many people do this.

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“ Nai Nai loves you very much, you know that? “

When Billi first arrived she was very meloconly and could not stop looking sad because she knew about her grandma. Once grandma Nai Nai realized she recommended that she go to the hotel room because she is just jet-lagged. Before leaving her grandma says this quote then Billi realizes she needs to get out of her head and spend time with Nai Nai and forget that she is lying and realize she is lying to protect her grandma.

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Page 114 : “ Then he said “ I did it for your good, christopher. Honestly I did. I never meant to lie. I just thought… i just thought it was better if you didn’t know… that ….. That i didn't mean i was going to show them to you when you are older. “

Christopher’s father was lying to his son for his own good due to knowing how Christopher's mother is back when she was here & living with them.

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Page 50 : Father said, “ promise me you will stop doing these things. Promise that you will give up this ridiculous game right now, OK? “ I said,” i promise “

Christopher ended up running into a lady at the store and ended up trying to ask her about the situation with the dead dog but ended up finding out about his mom’s affair with mr.s. In this moment he realized he needs to mind his business and keep his promise to his dad.