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c/book-club-debates•the_seththe_seth•3d ago

Question about a character's lie in my last book

The main character lied to keep her friend safe, but that lie hurt a lot of other people. Our group got pretty heated arguing if the 'good' lie was worth all the bad fallout. Where do you draw the line when a character does a bad thing for a good reason?
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3 Comments
the_patricia
Forget about Jenna's guilt for a minute. Look at what the lie actually did. If it kept her safe from real, physical harm, then a little social fallout or hurt feelings is a fair trade. Protecting one person from a true threat sometimes means stepping on a few toes. The world isn't clean, and good people have to make messy choices to stop worse things from happening. The line gets drawn at the result, not the method.
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paige562
paige5623d ago
Look at Jenna, the friend in question. Did she ever agree to the lie that shielded her? Her potential guilt makes the 'good' reason look selfish.
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wade329
wade3293d ago
Protecting someone doesn't always need their permission.
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