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Fiction In The Things They Carried Essay

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Fiction In The Things They Carried Essay
In “The Things They Carried” Tim O’Brien uses fiction to create his own war story. His feelings and experiences are expressed through less than true events.

Why did O’Brien feel compelled to add fiction to his story? It’s important to know that war is a very sensitive topic. He could have heard about events while he was serving that may have not affected him directly. The fact that these things may have not happened to him creates a disconnection to the audience.

People aren’t entertained if there is no first hand action, Tim O’Brien uses fiction because of this challenge. Think of a time when you were reading a book… What keeps you going? Is it the characters? The plot? The idea that it may have actually happened? It’s hard to …show more content…
He couldn’t escape to Canada and make a fool of himself at home. That is what is so admirable about O’Brien, he is able to overcome this obstacle to make a war story that is real, but not necessarily true. Truth has many definitions, based on who you ask you could get completely different answers. It’s easy to glamourize yourself if the author puts themselves into the story, but O’Brien doesn’t do this, if anything he shows that he does the complete opposite.

O’Brien plays with the idea of truth, his story may not have actually happened in real life but the raw emotion and ideas are still there. O’Brien prefaces this story by saying that it is true. In the chapter “How to Tell a True War Story” O’Brien claims that a true war story is not moral and tells us that we should never believe a story that seems moral.

O’Brien says sometimes a true war story cannot be believed because some of the most unbelievable parts are true, while some of the normal parts are not. Sometimes, he says, a true war story is impossible to
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