The Lying Games

In books 13-14 Odysseus finds himself back on his own home of Ithaca. When he arrives he is immediately met by Athena who asks who he is and how he gets here, this is the first of two lies that Odysseus tells during these two chapters. The second one comes when Odysseus convinces the loyal swineherd that he knows how Odysseus is doing. This begs the question: When if ever is okay to lie to anyone loyal to you or anyone you trust. And is it ever beneficial to lie to people close to you.

I personally believe that lying is not completely okay, especially if it is lying to people close to you. I feel that if you lie to people close to you, you are unintentionally alienating yourself from the ones closest to you. This is because if you lie to people close to you, you either feel subconsciously that you can not trust these people that you consider your friends and family, or this means that you yourself are extremely paranoid about what is going on and that you will not realize that people are not there for you before they leave. That is also why I believe it is not beneficial to lie to people close to you as you slowly alienate yourself from your friends and family if you routinely lie to you.