Women and Honor: Some Notes on Lying by Adrienne Rich

The essay Women and Honor: Some Notes on Lying, by Adrienne Rich, investigates the relationship women have with lying and the author encourages women to let go of their dependence on lying for a more fulfilling life. Rich is a well-known poet and feminist of the 20th century; she has won numerous prizes for her writing. She wrote this piece in 1977, which was soon after she had publicly come out as a lesbian and began a relationship with the novelist Michelle Cliff, which lasted until her death. She has therefore had the writing and personal experiences to allow her to write such an emotional and effective argument against lying. In this essay, Rich points out the destructiveness of a need for manipulation and deceit in relationships, and urges the reader to leave behind the compulsion to lie in order to protect themselves and their emotions. She directs her words at women who lie to others because they have been taught to do so, or because they are not expected to tell the truth. Her use of devices like parallelism (she repeats "It is important to do this" thrice when endorsing truth-telling (414)) and stating contradictory aphorisms to emphasize the struggle involved in breaking the habit of lying, helps solidify in the reader's mind that Rich is passionate and believes in her argument.

I found this essay to be very compelling. The author paints a picture of sisterhood between women while simultaneously laying out the dangers of lying: "The liar lives in fear of losing control...to be vulnerable to another person means for her the loss of control" (413). And following the guilt she induces in liars, she sings the praises of being truthful: "It is important to do this because in so doing we do justice to our own complexity" (414). Very strong emotions are present in this essay, and they work in tandem to encourage the reader to be truthful to herself and to others.

Rich's argument in defense of the truth
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