Truth In The Things They Carried Essay
The truth is only believable if it is made up. The Things They Carried is an intriguing novel that stands out from many others in its genre. The author, Tim O’Brien, believes that story truth is truer than happening truth. This idea is prevalent throughout the novel, especially in the chapter called, “The Man I Killed.” Tim O’Brien explains his reasoning behind telling “The Man I Killed” the way he did in “Good Form” saying that “. . . a long time ago I walked through Quang Ngai Province as a foot soldier. Almost everything else is invented.”(O’Brien 171) He explains that though he didn’t actually kill the man, but he felt guilty and in order to make the reader care and understand the way he felt. Story truth in “The Things They Carried,” is most apparent in “The Man I Killed” because Tim O’Brien uses fantastical imagery and intricate thought processes about death that a normal person could relate to in order to make the reader feel what he felt even though he exaggerated the story and didn’t actually kill somebody.
Story truth being truer than happening truth is a primary theme in “The Things They Carried.” Tim O’Brien defends …show more content…
this premise in “The Man I killed” by telling the reader that even though he did not kill that man he felt guilty for his death seeing him lying there. He has to make you care by telling you a story about the man; about how he was a scholar and got picked on for it, about how he loved calculus and just wished that America would go away. It’s obvious that Tim O’Brien is trying to humanize the boy and relate him to the our soldiers and even regular everyday people.
Tim O’Brien explains in “Good Form” later on in the novel that he did not actually kill the boy, but he just walked by him. Tim O’Brien also tells us he can honestly say that he has killed a man and that he honestly has not. He wanted you to feel the way he felt and throughout the novel he tries to explain his thought processes throughout war instead of trying to tell you another boring war story about the basic horrors that most people have become numb to. No one cares if you say that all around you was death and you had lost all sense of yourself. People have heard that a million times and when you listen to something enough times you lose your ability to hear it at all.
Tim O’Brien is not talking in a simple manner about his experience in and before and after war. In his own way, he is telling the truest war stories of all about a boy who loved calculus and just wanted to become a scholar, a little girl who got embarrassed in 4th grade, and a love story between Jimmy Cross and a girl who he knew would never love him back. These are the stories of war that people will listen to. O’Brien says, “I can see Kiowa, too, and Ted Lavender and Curt Lemon, and sometimes I can even see Timmy skating with Linda under the yellow floodlights.”(O’Brien 233) People are always intrigued by stories that on the outside seem like just an irrelevant event of a childhood, but on the inside, can define who someone is and how someone perceives things for their entire life. These are the stories that people will connect with. Telling a story is the only way people can understand the truth. “The Man I Killed” is the premier example of story truth in the book because concept of death is heavier than others and it is handled in a delicate way that people can understand in that chapter.
Death is an obscure concept to most people and by humanizing the boy and making him seem just like one of us who has dreams and a life outside of war. Tim O’Brien re-emphasizes “The Man I Killed later on in the book in “Good Form” talking about how if he had only told you about how he walked by the boy, then you would not have had any sympathy or interest in the situation. Tim O’Brien’s stories are worth something more to a reader than other stories about war because they offer a deeper and truer insight that comes from a place of fiction. In books, you will find that most of the time you learn more from a fictional story than a true
one.
Story truth being truer than happening truth is a primary theme in “The Things They Carried.” Tim O’Brien defends …show more content…
this premise in “The Man I killed” by telling the reader that even though he did not kill that man he felt guilty for his death seeing him lying there. He has to make you care by telling you a story about the man; about how he was a scholar and got picked on for it, about how he loved calculus and just wished that America would go away. It’s obvious that Tim O’Brien is trying to humanize the boy and relate him to the our soldiers and even regular everyday people.
Tim O’Brien explains in “Good Form” later on in the novel that he did not actually kill the boy, but he just walked by him. Tim O’Brien also tells us he can honestly say that he has killed a man and that he honestly has not. He wanted you to feel the way he felt and throughout the novel he tries to explain his thought processes throughout war instead of trying to tell you another boring war story about the basic horrors that most people have become numb to. No one cares if you say that all around you was death and you had lost all sense of yourself. People have heard that a million times and when you listen to something enough times you lose your ability to hear it at all.
Tim O’Brien is not talking in a simple manner about his experience in and before and after war. In his own way, he is telling the truest war stories of all about a boy who loved calculus and just wanted to become a scholar, a little girl who got embarrassed in 4th grade, and a love story between Jimmy Cross and a girl who he knew would never love him back. These are the stories of war that people will listen to. O’Brien says, “I can see Kiowa, too, and Ted Lavender and Curt Lemon, and sometimes I can even see Timmy skating with Linda under the yellow floodlights.”(O’Brien 233) People are always intrigued by stories that on the outside seem like just an irrelevant event of a childhood, but on the inside, can define who someone is and how someone perceives things for their entire life. These are the stories that people will connect with. Telling a story is the only way people can understand the truth. “The Man I Killed” is the premier example of story truth in the book because concept of death is heavier than others and it is handled in a delicate way that people can understand in that chapter.
Death is an obscure concept to most people and by humanizing the boy and making him seem just like one of us who has dreams and a life outside of war. Tim O’Brien re-emphasizes “The Man I Killed later on in the book in “Good Form” talking about how if he had only told you about how he walked by the boy, then you would not have had any sympathy or interest in the situation. Tim O’Brien’s stories are worth something more to a reader than other stories about war because they offer a deeper and truer insight that comes from a place of fiction. In books, you will find that most of the time you learn more from a fictional story than a true
one.