53 pages • 1 hour read
Roland SmithZach's Lie
Fiction | Novel | Middle GradeA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Suspicion, Lies, and Knowing Whom to Trust
Zach’s Lie is a fast-moving, entertaining thriller, but also a thoughtful exploration of how lies affect the individual. The novel’s title focuses on the impact of Zach’s lie—the cover up of his identity, which he finds so difficult to do—but the novel swirls with other lies that both cause harm and help keep characters safe. Zach learns although trust can be betrayed, and trust can be dangerous, sometimes, as Sam urges “you have to trust someone” (187).
Neil shatters his family’s trust. He lies to Patricia and the kids by hiding the fact that his new job involves illegal drug running. Neil’s secret negatively alters their lives. Even before Aznar becomes a threat, Neil’s secrecy damages his relationship with Patricia. Patricia, Jack, and Joanne lose everything familiar, including Neil. The family pays the price for Neil’s deception. Patricia feels angry and betrayed, commenting that she cannot believe Neil acted, “without my knowing about it!” (23). Joanne rejects her father. Jack is bereft; he still loves his dad, even though Neil’s image is now tarnished. From his jail cell, Neil at last recognizes the importance of truth in restoring trust. To do “the right thing” he tells the truth to Mary, Zach, and the DEA, and lies to the bad guys, showing that truth, the exposure of secrets and lies, can right wrongs and heal betrayal and regain trust.
Zach’s life, as he sees it, becomes one large lie. Although truthful and trusting Zach finds it hard to lie, the secret of his identity is designed to protect, rather than harm him. The family cover story impacts each family member differently. Wanda takes on her new life as if playing a role. Mary focuses on starting fresh. Zach struggles with isolation. Initially, Zach finds that he “can’t seem to make myself talk to anybody” at school because he does not want to lie but cannot tell the truth (84). Lies negatively affect Zach’s sense of self and his social interactions. Gradually—and reluctantly—Zach finds lying easier but is still troubled by deceiving people he increasingly comes to care for, like Catalin and Benat. Ultimately, Zach mitigates the secrecy about his background by telling Catalin he wants to move on from an unpleasant past, the closest he can come to the truth. In Zach’s case, lies protect, but endanger trust.
Other characters illustrate the danger of lies and deception. Peter looks at life as a game that one wins by keeping secrets. This life philosophy is based on his adoptive parents’ gambling advice. Peter believes his father’s tips, “Never show them what you have. Keep a poker face. Something as small as a twitch of an eye can give your hand away and the game is over. Be patient” (149). Peter collects secrets like ammunition – to blackmail Zach and extort additional money from Aznar. Peter’s “bluffs,” or lies, backfire. Aznar, falsely presenting himself as Hector Jones, dangles trust like gilded carrot in front of Peter, pretending to offer his own trust—and money—to get Peter’s information. Trust based on deception is false and nearly proves fatal to Peter.
Sam spent much of his life dealing in lies. As a spy, he traded in secrets and subterfuge. The nature of spying is deceit and distrust: anathema to trust. Sam’s profession costs him his family. The KGB broke Sam’s trust, and like Neil, Sam recognized that he needed to expose their secrets, telling, the truth for the greater good, despite personal risk. Sam understands that secrets do not foster trust. Sam shares his story, successfully helping Zach trust him. In this case, the trust is mutual and enables the two to work together to defeat Aznar. Before moving on to his new identity, and new protective lie, Zach entreats Sam to tell Catlin the truth, saying “she deserves an explanation” (207), showing again that truth communicates trust, but also revealing that in needing to disappear again and start a new life, secrets and lies again isolate Zach, now Mack, from his friends.
The Difficulty of Building a New Identity
The Witness Security Program alters the most fundamental part of an individual: their identity. For much of the novel, Zach struggles with a disconnect between who he was, and who he must pretend to be. Smith reveals how Zach’s lie and his resultant identity conflict affect Zach and explores the factors that help Zach ultimately become comfortable again with his self-image. Smith shows that one’s identity is intrinsic but adaptable.
Jack comes from a wealthy background, a secure nuclear family, and a comfortable status in his old school. He has friends and hobbies. Zach starts out with none of these things. Their family is broken, their finances diminished, and Zach is a new kid in school, with no friends and nothing to do. Zach starts a new life as a new person from scratch while maintaining a lie about his true identity. The lie compromises Zach’s sense of self. Zach bitterly journals that if you remove the “v” out of “lives,” you are left with “lies” (160). Unable to tell the truth about himself, Zach feels like a blue-eyed fraud, and self-isolates. He resents the fact that Wanda and his mom are adjusting to their new lives so quickly, seemingly leaving Neil behind. Zach’s lack of self-confidence is evident in his reluctance to make friends.
Zach’s inner dialogue manifests as his journaling helps bridge the gap between his two selves. It is “the only thing that has kept me sane through this” (182), Zach thinks. He realizes that the journals compromise the family cover story, but believes they are the only connection to his old identity, saying, “getting rid of the journals would have been like throwing my life away” (182).
Zach lacks autonomy over his life: all the events that have happened to his family are overwhelmingly out of Zach’s control. He is helpless against Aznar, has no say in where the family is going, and his father is no longer in his life. Zach’s first two names reflect his feeling of powerlessness. Neil named him Jack. Zach notes that like your parents, you cannot choose your names. Zach did not get to choose the name for his new identity. It is not until the end of the story, when Zach has established self-confidence, that he chooses his final name, Mack. Zach’s feelings of not having control over his life help create the repressed anger that leads to his fight with Peter, whose arrogance is the last straw for Zach. Zach feels as if “something snapped.” When Zach uses the punching bag, he is able to take control of and release his frustration.
The old Jack would have avoided conflict with Peter, but the new Zach has experienced losses that have made him stronger. Zach’s acting out opens the door to friendship with Catalin, Darrell, and Sam. Zach begins to embrace new experiences in Elko, like earning his first girlfriend, his first real paid job, and his first mountain campout. But the old Jack is not completely gone; Zach still reads at lunch, and instead of changing that part of himself, starts a new trend. Zach is both his old self, and a product of his new experiences. When Zach fears he has slipped up with his journals, he is willing to “burn them and forget Jack Osborne ever existed” to preserve his family’s safety, and the life he has come to enjoy (163).
Sam, like Zach, pretends to be someone he is not. Like Zach, Sam has become the identity he assumed twenty years ago. Sam is Unai, guardian of the students at Elko Middle School, and his old spy self. Sam integrates his love of music into his new life, composing and producing the high school musical, yet retains unique life skills and connections from his past. Like Sam, Zach becomes an amalgam of old and new experiences but recognizes that he is still himself as Jack, Zach, or Mack, at his core.
The Importance of Family Relationships
Catalin, sympathizing with Peter’s unhappy family situation, tells Zach that “we don’t get to pick our parents or where we live” (118). Her comment speaks to the importance of positive family connections. Smith offers three differing examples of families in the novel that illustrate how impactful family relationships are on the characters’ lives.
Catalin’s strong, supportive family exemplifies a positive family model. Catalin’s parents and extended family are both present in her life. Together, her parents and grandfather pass on to her their pride in their Basque cultural traditions and heritage and a strong work ethic. Catalin works with her parents in the hotel and experiences a sense of extended community with the Basque boarders. She communicates openly with her parents and Benat, who are warm, inclusive, and loving. Aznar’s threat against Catalin and Benat is especially insidious because it affects the youngest and oldest generation, the most innocent and loving. Coming from such a positive environment, Catalin is a sensitive and caring girl, which she proves by her affection for Zach in protecting his secret of Commander IF and allowing Zach to keep his past private.
In contrast, Peter’s family is dysfunctional. Peter’s adoptive parents are financially irresponsible and emotionally absent. Peter bitterly knows they do not care about him, which they confirm through their negligence, preferring to gamble rather than spend time with or money on Peter. Peter’s father attempts to put a positive spin on leaving Peter alone for a weekend, telling Peter he wished his parents “had trusted me like we trust you” (172). His “trust” is really neglect. Peter’s unhappiness with his parents and his desire to leave Elko and visit his brother—a family member who does care about him—motivate his blackmail of Zach. Peter becomes like his father, “always working an angle” (102), someone that others dislike and distrust. Both Darrell and Catalin comment that Peter was nicer when he was little but gradually changed. Peter’s uncaring, hustling family made him into an image of themselves, and Peter pays the price for their negligence when he is taken hostage and roughed up by Aznar.
Zach’s family is broken and struggling but has a foundation of love and support. Patricia and Neil’s relationship had difficulties even before they learned of Neil’s illegal actions. Neil was often absent, and he and Patricia argued so much Jack and Joanne worried they might divorce. Neil selfishly endangers the people he loves most, injuring his relationship with the family. Both adults, however, ultimately sacrifice themselves to protect the family. Patricia, instead of succumbing to her own emotions, stalwartly focuses on the family’s present and future safety: “All that mattered to her was protecting the children” (32). Neil realizes the ramifications of his activities and turns informant to keep the family safe, saying “The only thing that matters to me is you and the kids” (34). Their unconditional support helps Zach and Wanda become strong individuals.
After their relocation, Zach misses his father and feels detached from his mother and Wanda. Sam steps in as a substitute father figure, helping Zach manage his anger, giving him a job, and offering him new experiences and inclusion in the Basque culture and Catalin’s loving family. Sam’s paternal influence helps Zach become more confident in his new identity. In turn, Zach feels closer to his mom and Wanda. He is proud of Wanda’s audition and reconnects with her when she reveals her sadness about their father’s absence, feeling “for a moment, they were Jack and Joanne Osborne again” (158). Zach shows his love for his mom and sister in his desperation to protect their cover story; feeling guilty because he knows how important his mom’s bookstore and Wanda’s role in the musical are to them. Although Zach’s family is fragmented and stressed by Neil’s actions, fundamentally they are strong and supportive towards each other—and they love each other. When the family reunites, Mrs. Greene is the happiest the kids have seen her in a long time, and they are both overjoyed to see their father. Readers can infer that they will start over and again be a strong, whole family. The family tragedy ends up uniting them.
Smith’s study of the three different families—a supportive, multi-generational family; a dysfunctional unloving household; and a broken but loving family trying to reestablish itself—illustrates the powerful influence of family relationships. A loving, supportive connection builds strong, well-adjusted family members.
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