Ethan Canins Lies Analysis

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Lies Ethan Canins “lies” is a story about a young man named Jack. He lives an uninteresting and simple life in a small town in the state New York. He is almost eighteen and has graduated from high school. He now works at the local movie theatre, where he is changing the reels and selling tickets. When he is changing the reels he is sitting in a small dark and unknown room, while he is looking down at the audience. In the introduction of the story Jack tells the reader about his father, who he describe as a very certain man, with strong opinions. You get the feeling that they don’t have a very close relationship, even though the description is barely a description. He tells Jack to make his own choice, and take his own consequences, by telling…show more content…
Jack could be sitting in his little film room above the audience, fantasizing about another life: A life where he has a perfect girlfriend that will pick him up in a fancy red Cadillac and let him drive them to the end of the world. His thoughts of that relationship are dreamy and unrealistic. Jack is maybe as nerdy as his friends, whom Katy doesn’t like, because Jack has the feeling that no girl likes nerdy guys, like him and his friends. He is a boy who have never been with a girl, or maybe never talked to one. Also Jack has only just graduated high school: “Part of the reason I made it is that my folks pushed me.” He didn’t like going to high school, maybe because he was bullied by the girls in his school. That is why the relationship seems so fake; he does not know how a real relationship should be. This is also the reason of the title: “Lies.” It is only in his head, because he is lying to us. The fact that he is a projectionist could also describe how he is looking at movies all day and is dreaming away to the romantic movies where everything ends good and they always live happily ever after. He describes his relationship with Katy almost like a romantic Hollywood movie. He is sitting alone in his dark room from where he can see couples holding hands and sharing popcorn, just like he did with Katy when they met. His isolation is a symbol for not daring to
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