https://padlet.com/giannasofialegaspi2/to8srcyern0ila4d en-us 2023-03-23 00:51:47 UTC 2026-01-28 17:55:12 UTC hello@padlet.com giannasofialegaspi2 https://padlet.com/giannasofialegaspi2/to8srcyern0ila4d/wish/2527995404

“My eight-year-old mind knew that lying was necessary so that on my first confession in preparation for my first holy communion, I deliberately omitted lying from my list of sins; therefore, I did not have to ask Father to bless me for I have sinned.”

"One afternoon, I told my classmate Diadema (yes, that was her name, bless her soul) that her sister wanted me to get her schoolbag so she wouldn’t have a hard time carrying it herself after she did her classroom chores. Did her sister really tell me that? Of course not. But see, there was the five-peso bill in the transparent outer pocket of her peach Little Twin Stars bag that I couldn’t resist."

"One time, I told my favourite second-grade teacher that I had to leave the school as soon as the dismissal bell rings, “There is a taping I have to go to, Ms. A,” I tell her. “Because I’m joining a swimming competition, see. And Channel 4 is taping it so I have to go right away.”

"One Sunday morning when students were required to hear mass in my school wearing our gala uniforms, I, for one, had wanted to wear the red gingham dress my mother just got me. … I decided that I could get away with not wearing the uniform if I told everyone that it was my birthday."

"So how did I fix the birth month dilemma? I told them—hold onto your seats—that I was born in Taiwan. And because of that, I had two birthdays: one in July and the other in November."

"When I was twelve, I discovered my mother’s diary. …  I thought at first that the entries were streaked by Mama’s tears. It was only after reading a few pages that I realized those were my own tears on the paper for reading my mother’s account of our growing-up days."

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Throughout the entirety of the essay, the narration of the events can be divided into two parts, the first being situations when the author has told lies in school and the second when the author read her mother’s diary which halted the lying. Though the first part in general happens chronologically before the second, the dates of the events within the first part aren’t explicitly mentioned, except for the fact that she mentioned her age in the third opening sentence, “My eight-year-old mind,” and repetitively mentions that in the following events when she lies. As per these observations, if we were to look at the narration referring to the two divisions, it can be considered chronological, but if we would refer to the events individually, it’s more of a fragmented narrative as the author mentions events by using general terms such as “One afternoon”, “One time”, “One Sunday morning”, and so on, until she transitions to the second part wherein she was already twelve years old.

The essay consisted primarily of flashbacks of events, as shown in the events recounted in the essay.  The author talks about her experiences of lying as a second grader in school, and how she eventually stopped after reading her mother’s diary, seen in how she mentioned “I think it was at this point when the lying gradually came to an end. … reading the diary took away the beauty and comfort of my lies and they had ceased giving me a safe space.”

The perspective used was first-person as the author was telling her personal experiences, which aided in the reading experience in a way that the events were told with the corresponding emotions and commentaries of the author, which allows the reader to put themself into the shoes of the author within their experiences.

]]> 2023-03-23 00:55:01 UTC https://padlet.com/giannasofialegaspi2/to8srcyern0ila4d/wish/2527997247 giannasofialegaspi2 https://padlet.com/giannasofialegaspi2/to8srcyern0ila4d/wish/2527998876

In the beginning of the essay, the author’s eight year old self could be perceived as a child who lies frequently and to her advantage or enjoyment, seen from lines such as “At second-grade, I realized that being an expert liar was not something I could feel guilty about.”, “Lying also meant that I could be saved from certain situations.”, and “ Whenever I’d be asked now if I had enjoyed my childhood, I’d always say yes because of these days.” However, the assumption of her lying as a seemingly unreasonable child gets nullified by the revelation of her context, as she states that “ My alter-life after school, for example, was an unconscious escape from the heaviness of the situation at home”, making it clear that the lying was a childhood coping mechanism for the author. Towards the end, as she reads her mother’s diary and she says that it “took away the beauty and comfort of my lies and they had ceased giving me a safe space”, her character becomes enlightened and eventually comes to terms with their childhood trauma, and aiming to face reality, no matter how harsh, as she mentions that “ I am learning to shake the truths out of myself and I expect only the truth and nothing but the truth—no matter how absurd, shattering, ugly, and painful.”

]]> 2023-03-23 00:56:21 UTC https://padlet.com/giannasofialegaspi2/to8srcyern0ila4d/wish/2527998876 giannasofialegaspi2 https://padlet.com/giannasofialegaspi2/to8srcyern0ila4d/wish/2527999155

When the author read her mom’s diary, she found out about her mother’s “pursuit of the father who has abandoned us; the days when my brother would only have sugared water in his feeding bottle instead of formula milk; the nights she would beg God to send my father back to us; her endless quest for better-paying jobs to support us;”. I believe that the issues of poverty and its effects on children’s upbringing given the context of the author’s mother and how she coped as a child is definitely prevalent within the world, especially in our own country. Poverty causes people to commit deeds they sometimes have no control over, simply because they have no choice but to do them in order to survive or put up with their situation. The author, as a child, tries her best to escape that reality through lying, as the gravity of it all is unbearable for her to accept at such a young age. Throughout our country, children who live in poverty do acts such as stealing in order to provide for themselves, though the author’s context is not as dire, the similarity lies in the fact that poverty can cause children to behave immorally in order to survive their financial state and endure the closest they can get to a decent childhood.

]]> 2023-03-23 00:56:35 UTC https://padlet.com/giannasofialegaspi2/to8srcyern0ila4d/wish/2527999155 giannasofialegaspi2 https://padlet.com/giannasofialegaspi2/to8srcyern0ila4d/wish/2527999585

Personally, I found it so unexpected because I always thought that children who lie simply want attention, but knowing her context opened my eyes to the possible situations beyond the shallow intention to lie. However, looking back at my own childhood, I also somehow resonate with the text in a sense that I created different versions of myself to show in school, though not necessarily fake, but with the same intent which was to escape my situation at home. Though the author’s experience was much heavier than mine, I am able to understand her perspective of how she wanted a sort of break from reality when she leaves their house. Upon encountering the part where she reads her mom’s diary, I felt so much pity and a heightened awareness simultaneously as I finally understood where she was coming from, and it also made me all the more appreciate the ending when she finally gathers the strength to grow from the entire experience and accept the truth from then on, as she states in her last sentence, “Perhaps my childhood lies can now be the mirror on the wall before which I stand and I must face it; for this time, it cannot, and will not, lie any further.”.  

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