Swallowing Stones-Joyce Macdonald Essay Example

The novel Swallowing Stones by Joyce Macdonald teaches readers everywhere that lying ruins lives and relationships. This was demonstrated in the book by a character named Michael Mackenzie, who lived in a bundle of lies. These lies unintentionally hurt and caused harm to Amy, his new friend. They have also dragged his best friend, Joe into it and it put their friendship into jeopardy. Most importantly, it made finding closure difficult for Jenna, the victim. By choosing to lie, Michael negatively impacted everyone around him. Michael’s actions and choices all negatively affected Amy. Everything he did, including his interactions with other characters still affected Amy. He kept the gun and his friendship with Amy a secret to his girlfriend Darcy, so she went up to Amy and called her bad names. If Michael told Darcy the truth about all that, he would’ve avoided hurting Amy. Another way Michael affected Amy is by lying to the police. Amy saw him have the gun, which meant that she could be an accessory when she withheld crucial information. Michael could’ve prevented that by telling the police the truth instead of lying. These are all things that Michael has done which hurt Amy. Another victim of Michael’s poor decisions and actions was Joe. Every bad thing Joe did and went through was because of Michael. Ever since they learned about the accident, Joe’s drinking had gotten worse. This was because Michael made Joe keep his secret, and Joe drank more to cope with everything. Throughout the story, you can see how Joe acted as Michael’s “shield”. This was shown when Joe filed a false police report just for the protection of Michael’s secret. He was basically “shielding” Michael from his own problems because Michael couldn’t handle the situation by himself. Jenna’s life was drastically changed by Michael’s lies, deceit and actions. By killing Jenna’s dad, he also ruined Jenna and her mom’s lives. According to Jenna, Michael destroyed not one, but three lives. By