I'm trying to make a point in an article I'm writing about a
real-world case where I think the situation described in my Subject
line has occurred. I'd like to illustrate my point by citing the name
of a story where someone made a boast, perhaps exaggerating his
wartime heroics to his family and friends, and ideally doing so for an
innocent reason: to soften the effect on his comparative status in
the local pecking order of the much greater exaggerations other war
veterans in his little town are telling. E.g., perhaps he might say
that a scar that he got when he was bitten by a mule for grabbing its
ear when he was drunk actually occurred when he was saving a general
from a saber stroke, but that he'd agreed to keep this quiet for the
sake of the general's reputation. After letting this little
"stretcher" slip out one day when he was in his cups, he regretted
saying so, and denied that it had occurred, or refused to confirm or
deny it, but his wife and friends now viewed this as commendable
modesty--an effort to maintain his pledge of confidentiality to the
general--and as further confirmation of the reality of his tale. As a
result, he built up a great reputation in his town, but he always
urged his friends not to talk about it, especially not to the papers,
lest word get out and he be contradicted by someone who served in his
unit.
Then one day the general's granddaughter passed through town, fell in
love with a resident, scheduled a wedding, which the general planned
to attend. Now the whole town urged him to go and say hello to the
general and get a pat on the back--whereas actually, the general
thought and thinks he's a knucklehead, and would be outraged to hear
that he ever claimed he saved the general's life.
Out of a tiny bit of petty vanity, and a moment of weakness, the
boaster in our story has set himself up for a disproportionately harsh
punishment: an unbearably embarrassing situation that will
disillusion his wife and kids and mother in law in a spectacular and
permanent fashion, and make him low man on the totem pole in his town.
All his attempts to back out of the story won't be regarded by them
as sincere regrets, but as subtle efforts to trick them into believing
he wasn't just heroic, but modest too, and he'll be doubly condemned.
Is there a story like this (ideally by a well-known author)? I'm
hoping for something better than just a story of a boaster tripped up
when the actual facts of the case come to light, although I'll pay $2
each for such stories. |
