Faker

Throughout Faker, Trey and his family constantly push against the boundaries of honesty in their pursuit of unethical schemes. The certainty that Trey displays at the beginning of the book when he believes that rich people deserve to be marks shows that he subscribes to his father’s warped vision of reality. The middle of the book shows Trey flipping back and forth between his dad’s outlook and his new realization that stealing is unethical. Finally, at the end of the book, Trey departs completely from his father’s lessons by deciding to renounce grifting for good. 

In the novel’s earliest chapters, Trey and his dad meticulously plan the details of their latest con, fully embracing a life of deception. In preparation for the El Capitan scam, Trey’s dad weaves a delicate web of illusory respectability, projecting an upstanding image of himself to his new neighbors even as he secretly plots clever ways to steal their money. Faced with this constant tension between the family’s unscrupulous grifting and the earnest pursuits of his friend Kaylee, Trey grows increasingly uncomfortable with family patterns that he previously accepted as right and proper. 

As seen by the quick success of the El Capitan con, Trey’s dad adheres to a strict formula that produces considerable monetary rewards, and he actively embraces a stance of dishonesty, justifying his actions by asserting that the “spoils” of the con will help to provide for his children. However, he soon demonstrates that his actions are not based upon any sense of morality at all, for he refuses to dissuade Kaylee’s dad from investing in El Capitan, even though he knows that doing so will ruin the man’s financial situation. Thus, Trey’s dad prioritizes the success of the con and the safety of his family before all else, bluntly telling his son, “We can’t protect your teacher—not without putting ourselves at risk” (152). 

This ruthless attitude cements the fact that Trey’s father is a liar. Additionally, whether intentionally or not, he also lies to Trey. Because Trey’s perspective on the world is influenced by his father’s deceptions and verbal sleights-of-hand, Trey himself is rendered a somewhat unreliable narrator, especially when he accepts his father’s views without question. As Trey’s arc unfolds, his perspective begins to conflict with his dad’s, and he develops a greater sensitivity to the value of being honest. Through Trey’s continuously shifting outlook, the author creates a detailed ethical debate in which Trey must choose whether to pursue honesty at the expense of his family loyalty or remain true to his family while sacrificing the last vestiges of his integrity.