The theme of honesty is one of the book’s most salient themes and is inextricably linked to the folklore elements of Mules and Men. In Part 1, Hurston introduces the term “lies” to refer to the folklore stories, which engages the role of honesty—or perhaps more accurately, factuality—as it relates to folklore. In Part 2, much of the lore surrounding hoodoo is steeped in lies: The practice is identified as being “private,” thus reserved for in-group members, rendering it the object of mass speculation from non-members. Finally, Hurston’s own role in the work is one that relates to honesty and dishonesty, particularly in relation to the nonfiction genre and her portrayal of real events. This work does not aim to take a stance on the role of honesty and dishonesty as it pertains to cultural representation; rather, it grapples with the question of whether being honest and telling the truth are the same thing.

Part 1 deals primarily with the recording of folklore to establish a larger body of work representing Black and African American traditions in the American South. These folktales, as Hurston recognized in her research, are most often a culture’s first attempts to understand the intricate workings of the world.