When I Was Puerto Rican #3
"Why?Why can't they?" I croaked. "Because," she sprinkled a spoonful of sugar into the bowl, "if you hit your mother, when you die, your arm sticks out in front of you, like this, and it stays like that so you can't fit in your coffin."
I really like this section of the book and find it very comedic for a few reasons(some being obvious). First off the comedy of this is very clear as this tale she is being told is the biggest and most unbelievable lie ever, but because of her young age, respect for elders, and inexperience she actually whole heartedly believes it. She punched her mother in rage and believes that her arm will be stuck straight and she won't fit in her coffin so she can't go to heaven. This just kind of expresses how gullible kids can be in regard to made up tales by grownups. These types of stories are very often told to children to scare them out of doing something bad or to influence them in some way as they will believe mostly anything they are told. I remember as a kid these types of fables where often told to me to keep me out of trouble or to make me believe anything thats not true for that matter. One very good example that a large portion of us can relate too is santa. Obviously other religions don't tell this lie but even they know very well of it. Quite honestly now that I think about this santa is probably the biggest lie ever fabricated and told to children. Adults make billions and billions off a lie told to children. Anyways back to the point of influential lying, I feel like this is a cheap way to control kids in essence and should be frowned upon. Taking advantage of any population because of low knowledge shouldn't be a thing even though in this stories case I must admit its quite funny.
I agree with you, but a certain amount of lying to your kid is okay. Santa gives some extra excitement and fun at Christmas, more than their birthday because there's that feeling of magic. And other lies, like myths and the one you quoted here, might be okay if they have a positive effect and if the child eventually learns 1. The truth, and 2. Why they shouldn't/should do the thing morally. Most stories and tales are stepping stones to give the child a better reason not to do something than a lecture on morals or "because I said so".
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