Deception, if used appropriately, may not be as harmful as it seems. Similarly, the truth,

at times, may be unpleasant and could cause more harm to someone than an innocent white lie

could. A minor act of deception or an innocuous fib is justified when it is used to extricate

people from potentially baleful emotional distress. For instance, in John Steinbeck’s East of

Eden, Adam Trask hides the identity of his two sons’ mother to protect his sons from the

unsettling truth of their evil, perverse mother Cathy. Likewise, in John Irving’s Prayer for Owen

Meany, Tabitha Wheelwright never reveals to her son that their pastor is his father to protect

him from his hypocritical father.

In Steinbeck’s East of Eden, Adam Trask deceives his sons about their nefarious mother

and tells them that their mother is dead. Because his wife Cathy and abandons his sons for a

more profitable life as a brothel owner, Adam vows to preserve the innocence of his children

and their ideal image of their mother by telling a simple lie. If he were to reveal Cathy’s

existence as a reprobate brothel owner, his children’s lives and self-esteem would be

irrevocably altered. While his children persistently ask about their mother, Adam deceptively

avoids introducing the vile woman into their lives, for how could a child bear the notion that his

mother is evil? Eventually, Aron, Adam’s youngest son, discovers the true identity of his mother

from the townspeople’s rumors and in complete distress, escapes to the War and is killed in

battle. Ultimately, Adam’s deception averts, for a while, the disappointing revelation of Cathy’s

existence and Aron’s demise.

Just as Adam deceives his children to protect them from a harmful truth, so does

Tabitha Wheelwright mislead her son to prevent him from growing spiteful toward his father’s

true identity. Tabitha consistently answers her son’s inquiries about his father with the same

equivocal phrase, “You were a gift from God.” Tabitha and her son John are Christians who

make religion a priority in their lives; therefore, John, who was born out of wedlock, would

have been disheartened to learn that the pastor, whom he admires, is the man who had an

affair with his mother. Tabitha withholds the pastor’s identity to protect John from an

inevitable disappointment. Her deception justifiably forestalls the despair that the truth would

bring for her son. Eventually, after his mother’s death, John realizes his father’s identity and

grows to spite him and Christianity as well. However, Tabitha’s concealment of John’s father’s

identity gives John a peaceful childhood, which would have otherwise been prematurely

marred by the unsettling truth.

Deception is justifiable when it is used to protect people from harmful truths. Adam

Trask deceives and hides the identity of his children’s mother to protect them from knowing

her depravity. Similarly, Tabitha Wheelwright conceals the identity of her son’s father to

preserve his faith in Christianity. Deception can be a benign method to deter the revelation of

harmful truths and grant people a moment of solace.