In the story “When the Emperor was divine” one of the themes we discussed in class, was the fact that the whole book revolved around lies. All of the characters lied to not only others, but to themselves as well. I believe this all derived from many different reasons. The reason why the family in the story, and many others, were lured to the internment camps, were all based on lies.

They were told that this was supposed to be a good thing, and in order for them to be safe, they had to be moved to these camps. Although everyone figured that this was a lie, they went along with it, because of fear. I believe the reason why so many lies were told in this story, is so the characters to have some sense of control. They had no control over their own lives, or the situation they were in, so I believe they lied in order to gain some control, and be able to live in the make-believe world they created.

In this story i found that in order for the characters to remain a level of sanity, lying became natural and needed in order to help them 'cope' in a way.