Cantuña, in desperate need of help, called out for the Devil’s assistance. The Devil responded and struck a deal with Cantuña — he would send demons to complete the church’s atrium with no missing stones in exchange for Cantuña’s soul. While the demons were at work, they were unaware of Cantuña’s plan to hide a stone and save his soul. (Jordan)
Deception is a theme that has appeared in various scriptures. The bible has many demonstrations of the art of deceiving others — Tamar uses deception to get Judah to sleep with her (Torrey). It adds a sense of drama to the writing piece and draws the reader in.
In his article, “Deception and Lying,” Tony Hope — who is an editorial associate for the Journal of Medical Ethics and psychiatrist and Leader of the Oxford Practice Skills Project at Oxford University — writes about deception in a psychological lense. Hope says that there are two reasons why people deceive others — either to benefit themselves or to not hurt the other with the truth. The outcome of deception is usually met with resentment by the victim. “But the issue of lying and deceiving patients remains a live one,” he states (Hope). In the end, Hope says that deception is something that should be taken out of part of living because it is unfair.
Hope is thorough and persuasive in his argument of deception not being something that is good for humankind. He gives examples of patients being deceived by nurses put to care for them. However, he does not explore the possibility of deception balancing good and bad. For instance, Batman may act defeated in front of the Joker but in reality be preparing to do a sneak attack on him. Deception is a concept that will be considered foul play — only when the victim did not truly deserve it.
Cantuña deceives the Devil in order to keep his soul. Deception is said to be an unjust action, as Tony Hope argued in his article, “Deception and Lying.” Yet, there are stories that prove deception is a key to defeating enemies.
Work Cited
Jordan, Jessie. “Cantuña and the Devil.” Unpublished Paper. 19 September 2019.
Torrey, Joshua. “Deception in Genesis.” Torrey Gazette, Torrey Gazette, 18 Aug. 2015. Accessed 02 October 2019.
Hope, Tony. “Deception and Lying.” Journal of Medical Ethics, Vol. 21, 1995; (pp. 67-68)
This assignment did not challenge me as the narrative essay it. It was a continuation of that essay. I kept the flow that I had developed in the story-telling. Finding the scholarly article was difficult. The theme of deception immediately came to my mind. I had a certain idea in my mind that I just could not find online. It took a while to choose the article I used for this essay. I made it fit to my theme — however, identifying the writer’s argument was not easy. Overall, writing this assignment was interesting because of the mini research that was required.
