Candelo Review essays

Candelo Review essays Because it was possible we had all been lying. Not just he and I. But all of us. To each other and to ourselves (p. 93). Within Candelo, many major events are shrouded by lies and the unwillingness to tell the truth. In fact moral truth is at the heart of this book, which describes Ursula's attempt to set a direction for herself on which right and wrong are clearly distinguished. This is explored through her relationships with her lover, her ex-lover, and with the family that is so much a presence in her life. Ursula is endeavoring to deal with present dilemmas and also with the residue of a past that has never really been resolved. Ultimately it is this unwillingness to tell the truth throughout the novel that affects the inability of many characters to live normal, well-balanced lives. As the novel progresses, Ursulas guilt concerning the events that occurred at Candelo when she was fourteen is revealed, and she must confront not only her own actions, but those of each of the people closest to home: her mother Vi, brother Simon and father Bernard. She is also forced to ask herself what Mitchell really meant to her, and how he influenced all their lives. The consequences of lying for Ursula run quite deep and she has immense difficulty throughout the novel, in defining the important as opposed to the merely momentary issues in her own life. She has reacted against her mother's call for integrity and honesty at all costs, and her father's chronic lying, by making her life a series of half-truths and deception. She justifies this trait within herself by observing similar fabrications in others when she says These are the lies I tell. These are the lies most people tell (p. 35). However she is increasingly troubled by the question of what really constitutes a petty lie and what comprises an important one when she states My mother, Violetta, has always believed that there is a divi...