Hubert often tells lies (such as when he first meets Jan). Why do you suppose he defaults to untruths?

Hubert often tells lies (his first instinct when he meets Jan in the park is to lie about Layla, for example). What other instances do you recall where he was less than truthful? Why do you suppose he defaults to untruths?

It's a shield of sorts, "protecting" him from having to get involved with other people. .

Because it’s to painful to put the truth in words. Because it’s too painful to go over it again and again. Because it is too painful to try to make others understand. Because it is too painful to hear their point of view.

Hubert's lies prevent him from investing any of himself with others. It was safer for him to blend into the background. He kept himself invisible through his lies.

I think his lying is self-protective. He needed to feel safe in his relationships before he was able to tell his truth more fully. His initial lie to Jan was clearly a knee-jerk reaction in an uncomfortable situation - all to easy to do!

He wants to be accepted. He assess what he thinks would make the person happy with him, and then he says it.

The lie Hubert tells when he meets Jan is a simple one. It’s a shortcut many of us use when talking with a stranger. He’s never seen her before and doesn’t expect to see her again. He doesn’t want to take the time and energy to explain the situation to her, so he just goes along with her assumption.

Some of his other lies are much more complex. The biggest example is his lie to himself and everyone else, believing his daughter is still alive. I think this lie helps him feel less lonely.

The most complicated lies are the ones he tells his imaginary daughter. It’s hard to understand someone making up such an elaborate system of lies to tell his dead daughter. I think he looks to his memory of her for encouragement & support. A part of him believes having a social life would be good for him and hearing this thought in his daughter’s voice helps motivate him. But he just can’t bring himself to put himself out there so he creates the imaginary friends.

The truth hurt so it was easier to lie. He found his fantasy easier to deal with than facing what had actually occurred. Telling the truth would make him face reality.

Sometimes lies make it easier to figure out how to live in your truth. It gave him time to figure out next steps to come out of his shell and interact with others.

It's his way of living in denial and avoiding the pain of loss in his life. If he can pretend to have the life he WISHED he'd had, it's easier to avoid the truth.

The lies are his fortress walls to protect him from feeling real emotions. Telling the truth would dismantle his walls opening him up to feeling emotions and he wouldn’t know how to manage the feelings.

When so many bad things happened to Herbert,he just couldn’t bring himself to answer all the questions about his life truthfully when he would meet new people. It would be too painful and he didn’t want pity so one lie lead to another until they just piled up. It was easier to live his new reality but that took a different form as the story unfolded,situations happened that made him face his true reality and his good friends helped him along, teaching him he could deal with many sad issues in his life.

He wanted to “save face” by telling lies to
Make people think his life was acceptable