Honesty Theme Analysis

In A Single Shard, honesty is an important virtue—but the story also suggests that honesty can be relative and isn’t always self-evident. Because of this, characters must carefully discuss their actions with trusted conversational partners to determine what the honest thing to do is in any given situation. This dynamic is clearest in the relationship between adolescent orphan Tree-ear and his homeless, disabled guardian Crane-man. Though Crane-man has raised Tree-ear to be honest, Tree-ear is often confused about what counts as honesty, so he talks through his dilemmas to Crane-man to make sense of them. For example, when Tree-ear spies on the master potter Kang and realizes that Kang has created an innovation in pottery, “inlay work,” which is likely to win him a royal commission, Tree-ear wants to tell his employer, master potter Min, about the new technique: Min’s skill is superior to Kang’s, so Min could likely execute the innovation more beautifully and win the royal commission for himself. Yet Tree-ear isn’t sure whether using someone else’s idea is dishonest behavior—so he asks Crane-man whether it’s stealing to take something intangible from someone else. When Crane-man tells him it’s dishonest if the idea is a secret but not if it’s been publicized, Tree-ear—committed to honesty—decides not to tell Min about the inlay work until Kang has shown his innovation in public. Thus, Tree-ear’s dilemma shows that honesty is important—but that knowing how to be honest sometimes requires a searching conversation with trusted friends.