Storytelling In The Things They Carried Essay

Alan Moore, the creator of the comic V for Vendetta, once stated, “Artists use lies to tell the truth. Yes, I created a lie. But because you believed it, you found something true about yourself.” In the quote moore describes the power that storytelling has on people. He explains to us that just because there is lies in the story, that doesn't mean that we cannot take something away from it. Similarly in the novel, The Things They Carried, the author, Tim O’Brien, uses stories to tell us about his time serving in the war in Vietnam. And even though most of these stories are not entirely true, that does not mean we cannot learn from them. Storytelling is a tool that allows soldiers and people, to escape the brutal hardships they face in everyday life, and create their own world and stories of “the truth,” and in the end it’s these stories that allow us to be happy and deal with that real life struggle.
And this leads them to a healthy, emotional state of mind. In an article, Rainer Helin explains this power of stories, “The reason why stories have been told since the beginning of time is because they… help us escape our reality and enjoy ourselves”(Helin) Helin here explains one of the most important things about stories and storytelling. It allows us to escape everything bad around us that we don't want to deal with. And especially for soldiers, as seen in The Things They Carried, it is an important tool that helps them cope with war and death, by being able to go to a place where none of it exists. Stories give us the power to escape the truth and help us maintain a healthy emotional state of mind. Storytelling is also a healthy way to be able to cope with our problems. And it is a much better alternative to drugs and alcohol which can lead to more harm