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Truth In Tim O 'Brien's The Things They Carried'

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Darkness of Light, Memory of Loss The mirror that reflects you is the truth and the darkness that shines through is your reflection that finds light within war and that light within war is the truest love story ever told. In the nonlinear novel, The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien focuses on what a true war story is and how to differentiate between a lie and a truth, which to believe and the difference between story-truth and happening-truth. Tim O’Brien uses his skill in storytelling to convey his memories to people who have not fully experienced the Vietnam War first hand. In the chapter “On the Rainy River,” the power of embarrassment is stronger than the cheers from a crowd after a home run ball is thrown by morality and crosses the rainy …show more content…

I was once a soldier. There were many bodies… but I was young and afraid to look… now, twenty years later, I’m left with faceless responsibility and faceless grief” (O’Brien 172). That is what he had seen and what he had felt. The purpose of a happening-truth is to feel what he felt. This is where story-truth comes in, “He was a slim, dead, almost dainty, young man of about twenty… His jaw was in his throat. His one eye was shut, the other eye was a star-shaped hole. I killed him” (O’Brien 172). The purpose of a story-truth is to make his readers see what he saw, his memory, and whichever truth is told alters the answers to questions. Without them, there would almost be no point in asking questions, because there would be no truth to tell, all memories would be a …show more content…

In this chapter, O’Brien takes his daughter out on a mini field trip in Vietnam to the place Kiowa died. He told his daughter the simplified story-truth of it all, “‘this whole war… why was everybody so mad at everybody else?’ I shook my head. ‘They weren’t mad, exactly. Some people wanted one thing, other people wanted another thing’” (O’Brien 175). O’Brien’s daughter, Kathleen, wanted answers, but, not to just any question. She wanted to why; a question that her father had no answer to. Later on the trip, Kathleen’s father went for a swim in the field to put his memory of Kiowa’s death to rest, “roughly here… where Mitchell Sanders… found Kiowa’s rucksack… I reached in with the moccasins and wedged them into the soft bottom, letting them slide away” (O’Brien 178). No matter how many times O’Brien’s daughter asks him why he cannot let go of the past, he almost always answers with a story-truth. With his readers, it is both, so we can also slide away with the moccasins and his

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The Dentist "He kept replaying his own exploits, tacking on little flourishes that never happened" (82). Now, the question, "Which is more important—story-truth or happening-truth?" is asked. This above quote from Tim O 'Brein gently represents how a little thing called story-truth happens. The greatest difference between story and happening-truth is the simple fact that happening-truth reveals actual events that have occurred, whereas story-truth, which Tim O 'Brien, the author of The Things They Carried, heavily emphasizes, is subjectively reflecting a person 's thoughts and feelings when recounting a tale, and putting theme above all else. The importance of the two is where everything lies, where the author of the novel pushes for story

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O’Brien shows readers and those who know veterans, how moments of morality and shame and guilt arise in war. The chapter “In the Field” shows many moments of shame and guilt for the characters as the result of a death. In the chapter Kiowa dies from sinking into the mud, and his friends are

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Stories can show us see things from a different perspective. Stories give us access to other people’s lives and give us access to our own lives. Tim O’Brien wrote a story of a soldier who was on a night watch. He had grenades lined up ready to use. When he saw a Korean soldier walking down the path he thought to himself “the reality of what was

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For instance, if a loved one passed away and you were to tell a story about them like O'Brien did about Linda you would remember them and there would be an illusion that that person is alive again just like you would desire. Having an illusion where what you desire comes true can only happen in a story and that’s why they are essential for life. O’Brien shows another example of why stories are essential in the same chapter. In The Lives of the Dead O’Brien not only talks about Linda but he also talks the people that passed away from the war in Vietnam like Ted Lavender, Kiowa, and Curt Lemon. Another thing O’Brien says in this chapter is that he says, “But this too is true:stories can save us.

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Readers, especially those reading historical fiction, always crave to find believable stories and realistic characters. Tim O’Brien gives them this in “The Things They Carried.” Like war, people and their stories are often complex. This novel is a collection stories that include these complex characters and their in depth stories, both of which are essential when telling stories of the Vietnam War. Using techniques common to postmodern writers, literary techniques, and a collection of emotional truths, O’Brien helps readers understand a wide perspective from the war, which ultimately makes the fictional stories he tells more believable.

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“True” is a word that defines as in accordance with fact or reality ("true: definition of true in Oxford dictionary (American English) (US)", 2016). The Things They Carried, a novel written by Tim O’Brien, defines as a “true” story because it discusses soldiers’ real experiences in the Vietnam War. Tim O’Brien wrote his novel based on his experience in the war as a young adult and his account of the Vietnam War has created discrepancy among readers on whether his novel is a “true” story or a glorified piece of exaggerated fiction. The Things They Carried was written to convey soldiers’ real experiences of the war and therefore is a “true” story.

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O’brien explains in this quote, that the story he is telling is enabling him to feel the emotions of the memories he had and bring those moments from long ago back fresh into his mind. He can attach certainty to uncertainty and make sense of what had happened in his life. He came to the understanding

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Human beings often claim to be searching for the truth. The truth often entails finding the right answer, choice, or formula. The search for truth develops a tendency to settle for the easiest choice—a false truth; more often than not, a false truth goes unquestioned in order to remain benighted. Concerning the false truth in The Things They Carried, information—specifically memories, must be sorted into two categories: those stories that are true and those which are simply glorified recreational war stories. It would be a near impossible task due to the extent that the tales mix.

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It’s more of knowing whether what is being told to us is true or surreal. In the chapter how to tell a True war story, rat Kiley introduces us to Curt Lemon, his best friend and he makes the readers think about if the story is true or not. For example when curt lemon died and rat Kiley was telling the story of how his death came. rat Kiley said when he died it was almost beautiful.

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Story truth is truth that is fictional, but convenient to telling the story. Lastly, happening truth is what actually happened in an event. The question of ‘What is the real truth?” is answered to an extent, as throughout the book we witness each type of

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With the goal of providing deeper understanding, O’Brien uses memory and death to convey the feelings on being in war. O’Brien uses storytelling and memory throughout the book, but it is especially prevalent in the chapter “How to Tell a True War Story”. In this chapter, he shows that stories can be told in multiple perspectives. This theme develops strongly through the chapter. O’Brien conveys to readers that stories can be told in many different ways, depending on interpretation by the storyteller and listener when he writes, “You can’t extract the meaning without unravelling the deeper meaning.”

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(O'brien 114) He wants us to know his experiences and how he felt going through a traumatic event like the Vietnam war. By using emotion in his stories, he walks us through his guilt and trauma he has now after the war. This shows us that even though it might not have happened, the trauma is more true than anything else. He added untrue aspects to his stories for a coping mechanism.

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Tim O’Brien never lies. While we realise at the end of the book that Kiowa, Mitchell Sanders and Rat Kiley are all fictional characters, O’Brien is actually trying to tell us that there is a lot more truth hidden in these imagined characters than we think. This suggests that the experiences he went through were so traumatic, the only way to describe it was through the projection of fictional characters. O’Brien explores the relationship between war experiences and storytelling by blurring the lines between truth and fiction. While storytelling can change and shape a reader’s opinions and perspective, it might also be the closest in helping O’Brien cope with the complexity of war experiences, where the concepts like moral and immorality are being distorted.

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Using his past experiences as a soldier in Vietnam, O’Brien crafted a narrative that praises the ambiguous art of war-time storytelling and its power to shape the reader’s and/or listener’s perception of actuality. More so, the novel intentionally blends fact and fiction together to make the point that objective truth should retain very little relevance in the grand

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He fought a war in Vietnam that he knew nothing about, all he knew was that, “Certain blood was being shed for uncertain reasons” (38). He realized that he put his life on the line for a war that is surrounded in controversy and questions. Through reading The Things They Carried, it was easy to feel connected to the characters; to feel their sorrow, confusion, and pain. O’Briens ability to make his readers feel as though they are actually there in the war zones with him is a unique ability that not every author possess.

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