The quote, “Truth is a hard deer to hunt. If you eat too much deer at once, you may die of the truth. It was not idly that our fathers forbade the Dead Places,” implies that truth is hard to find and even harder to understand. Not everyone can discover truth and once it is found, not everyone can handle it. The quote allows the reader to believe that governing priests are looking out for their people. Furthermore, the quote also implies that the Hill people may be unable to accept or deal with the truth; therefore the priest-rulers were justified in keeping the truth from their people.

I refute this implication. I do not agree with the thought because I do not believe that keeping the truth from people, especially those we guide, can ever be justified. Eventhough the priests are attempting to protect the people from what they believe would bring about their eventual destruction, they are restricting their freedom to think and to choose. The priests may not wish to give their people new knowledge of the technologically advanced civilization of the past in order to save them from the same errors that caused the ruin of their forbears. But who dares, who can really know that would be the result of the forbidden knowledge? John, the son of one of the ruling priests, reacted in opposition to their assumptions. John personally witnessed the remnants of the technology and ruined splendidness of the old civilization, but he also understood its faults and mistakes. This view allows John to acquire a more informed idea on how to successfully create a lasting civilization. John knows that the purpose of living is to proceed forward. By doing so, he and his people will be able to move forward and shed the static restrictions of their lives.