O’Brien says that a true war story is something you believe with your stomach and has no moral. For O’Brien, something isn’t true unless it feels true. A true war story should leave you with a deeper emotional connection. For example, the death of Rat Kiley’s best friend is a true war story because it has no moral.
The Things They Carried is a collection of stories written by Tim O’Brien to depict what soldiers, including himself, had experienced while fighting across seas in the Vietnam War. The collection of stories begins with a section titled “The Things They Carried”. Tim O'brien is the main character, and he is a soldier fighting with his fellow comrades in a group named Alpha Company and he describes the belongings and equipment that each soldier carries while also providing a short background of a few men. Many characters reappear throughout the collection of stories that are told by Tim.
What’s more powerful, the truth or a lie? How are we able to tell the difference? It’s all from a person’s perspective and the way we choose to spin the story. There is no way to identify the real situation unless you were there to witness the event. Throughout the novel, The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien there is a discussion over whether he is using fiction or nonfiction.
He then begins to speak about the difference between “real truth” and “story truth.” Sometimes story truth is more true than real truth due to the emotions that the reader experiences. O’Brien’s goal was for the readers to believe these experiences were true down to the very last detail. This makes the audience grasp a better understanding of what these soldiers actually experienced in battle. In “How to Tell a True War Story” Mitchell Sanders shares a story with Tim about when a troop is on an operation in the mountains for an operation.
The Challenge of Bravery and Courage are unexpected obstacles for everyone who was drafted into the Vietnam War, especially for Tim O’Brien who is the narrator and the Author of “The Things They Carried”. Before O’Brien gets drafted into the Vietnam War, he highlights the consumption of tone and juxtaposition on the effects of war while his allies are trying to empathize to his feelings. The theme also relates to Khaled Hosseini’s story “Kite Runner” where as a kid, Amir struggled with bravery and courage when he wasn’t there for Hassan. In Order for O’Brien to seek truth behind War, he’ll need to experience the environment in-action which is why he was forced to see everything later on in the story.
Soldiers are always seen as war heroes and sometimes even as legends. But for Tim O’Brien, this is quite the opposite. The Things They Carried shares a story of a group of soldiers in Vietnam and along the way, many questions are raised towards war. One of the plethora of questions the book asks is if soldiers are heroes. Are they still heroes even after killing an innocent life?
In the chapter, How to Tell a True War Story, he emphasizes this a lot. “In many cases a true war story cannot be believed. If you believe it, be skeptical. It’s a question of credibility. Often the crazy stuff is true and the normal stuff isn't, because the normal stuff is necessary to make you believe the truly incredible craziness.”
Storytelling has such a large impact on all stages of life. Stories are told to teach a lesson, give hope, or get someone through a hard time. Tim O’Brien uses storytelling in his book, The Things They Carried, to teach lessons from war, and help readers understand about the baggage people bring to war. The publisher section of this novel has this warning in it, "This is a work of fiction. Except for a few details regarding the author's own life all incidents, names, and characters are imaginary” (O'Brien).
Metafiction is a literary technique used by Tim O’Brien to frequently remind the readers of the fictional quality of his war stories and to emphasize the relations between fiction and reality. “Good Form” is an example of metafiction because it not only accounts for the reason why Tim O’Brien produces made-up stories—to deliver his personal feelings to the audience—but also makes the readers realize that The Things They Carried is a work of fiction, instead of a description of the reality. Tim O’Brien also applies metafiction to previous chapter, “How to Tell a True War Story”, and both chapters express the notion that feelings or morals are greater than facts. “Good Form” directly informs the readers about the author’s fabrication on the
Literature is a medium of truth-telling. Literature about literature is a medium of truth about truth. Tim O’Brien’s fictionalization of experiences in the Vietnam war, “The Things They Carried,” has the weight of a memoir unburned by facts. The question of fiction’s ability to uncover truth better than events is raised and answered at the same time. The work as a whole affirms this idea.
According to Roland Barthes “Literature is the question minus the answer. In The Things They Carried, a collection of short stories, by Tim O'Brien we are left to deal with the question of ‘What is the real truth?’ Throughout the story, we are introduced to multiple types of truth. They include physical truth, in which the story tells what the men are physically carrying. Consequently, it is also compared to emotional truth, what emotional baggage the men carry with them from place to place.
His personal accounts gave the reader only a slight insight as to what it might have been like to be a participant in the carnage first hand. There are copious accounts from other soldiers, generals, and bystanders that have gone unheard. The war was a puzzle that got solved as the country figured out where the pieces went. Sam Watkins’ stories help put the lost pieces back in place. His exuberant stories were a roller coaster ride of emotions and actions.
“How to Tell a True War Story” and “Ambush” are stories that both explore on topics: truth, the real definition of a true war story, and the role of truth. O 'Brien starts off “How to Tell a True War Story” with “This is true.” Starting this story with such a bold sentence not only makes it seem more true, but to some extent, it acts as a comfort statement to the narrator’s own doubts, as if there were unspeakable uncertainties and lies of the narrator. The title of this story also comes into play, with a meta-fictional name “How to Tell a True War Story”, as if it were a guide, a manual, having a true war story tell the readers how to tell a true war story. However ironically, towards the middle of the story, us as
What is a true war story? How can it be told? this is a quite complicated question with a quite complex response(s). a true war story is something beyond generalizing, that could be true and untrue at a time. There is not only one type of truth, but happening and seeming truths, and not the man could know the real truth in a war story.
To Tell A True War Story, 51). The true version is always what hits the hardest. In “The Things They Carried”
