How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"You called him," he said softly. "You."
"To tell the truth!" she answered…."Everybody in Milagre is so kind and understanding…They just look the other way when Father gets himself raging drunk and comes home and beats Mother until she can't walk." (7.107-108)
The truth here isn't contrasted with lies, but with being kind. The novel often presents truth as harsh, as the bitter ugly thing under convention.
Quote #5
"It means a life of constant deception. You will go out and discover something, something vital, and then when you get back to the station you'll write up a completely innocuous report…. Father and I began doing this because we couldn't bear to withhold knowledge from the piggies. You will discover as I have, that it is no less painful to withhold knowledge from your fellow scientists." (8.1)
Is withholding knowledge a lie? Not telling what you know is here presented as an ethical failure, like failing to tell the truth. Perhaps this is because lying or deception is a violation of community—it cuts you off from the community and, in doing so, from yourself.