White lies by Natasha Trethewey

¶ … Trethewey's "White Lies"

Everyone has a desire that burns in his or her soul. Even as children, we are driven by compulsions that we do not fully understand but act upon anyway. Adults, too, often enjoy it when someone thinks something better about them -- regardless if it is true or not. In "White Lies," Natasha Trethewey points out the struggles of being a mixed breed and how they start with desire but end with truth. The speaker's desire to be accepted and the ease at which she is accepted makes the temptation to reveal her true heritage difficult. It is a struggle of the soul. Trethewey demonstrates this struggle through the persona and tone of this poem. Social pressure is difficult to resist at any age, even when we know the truth and even when we know better. The desire to fit in and be accepted often defeats doing the right thing. Trethewey illustrates how easily this happens.

The persona in this poem is that of the grown woman remembering her childhood and the lies she told others in order to be perceived as something different from what she actually was. This persona sees both sides of the lie as she remembers the lies she would tell herself, such as "light-bright near white, high-yellow, red-boned"(3-4). She lied about where she lived in order to avoid condemnation, telling people she lived up town instead of the "pink and green/shanty-fied shotgun section/along the tracks" (9-11). The wordplay is effective, as the poet admits they are told "in a black place" (5). The words have no real effect on the child, as she still resorts to telling lies when she can. In many cases, she does not even have to lie because others assume she is white. While her mother thinks her heritage is clear, she must wonder as she easily blends in with other white children. This persona is lost between two worlds and the lying is just one way of dealing with the confusion.

The tone in "White Lies" is one of regret as the poet comes to terms with her own feelings about her heritage. She realizes how she wanted others to think she was someone different than she was because she did not like herself. She was not comfortable in her own skin. The soap is a symbol of purity and her mother means to clean the speaker's tongue but she knows the problem goes much farther than her mouth. When her mother washed out her mouth she swallowed the soap "thinking they'd work / from the inside out" (28). The poet realizes her shame and understands her mother's anger but she could never resist lying about herself to make herself look better to others. At the end of the day, she is surrounded by shame on all sides.