The Things They Carried is a fictional nonfiction book, because of one of Tim’s interesting storytelling techniques. In this book Tim does many interesting things with his storytelling. He talks about the different kinds of truths in stories. He is mysterious at times. He also talks about how you can screw up a story. A lot more goes into telling a story than you would expect. Just because I tell you that a story happened doesn’t mean I have to be telling the truth, right? The same goes for an author telling a story in a book. Tim makes this very clear when he says, “I remember feeling the burden … But listen. Even that story is made up. I want you to feel what I felt.” (Pg. 171). When reading a story in a book that doesn’t have crazy fictional traits like zombies or dragons, you would likely assume that it’s a true story. Tim O’Brien takes advantage of that.
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When you are changing a story around to dig for the deeper truth, you might mess up. Instead of reaching the deeper truth you might unintentionally take away from that deeper truth instead. Tim talks about how he did this when he said, “Almost immediately, though, there was a sense of failure. … I’d lost that counterpoint between the lake and the field.” (Pg. 153). While trying to change the story up for the better, Tim had basically ruined the meaning behind it. Tim realized this, and later added things into the story to bring back its meaning.
Although a simple story may not take much to create, great stories like the ones in The Things They Carried usually take much more. The things Tim does are what makes the book so interesting. They make you think and wonder. The book makes you really think about what goes into writing a book, and it makes you realize that The Things They Carried is much more than just spilling out memories on a paper. It’s full of storytelling techniques that improve the story, and make it much more
When you are changing a story around to dig for the deeper truth, you might mess up. Instead of reaching the deeper truth you might unintentionally take away from that deeper truth instead. Tim talks about how he did this when he said, “Almost immediately, though, there was a sense of failure. … I’d lost that counterpoint between the lake and the field.” (Pg. 153). While trying to change the story up for the better, Tim had basically ruined the meaning behind it. Tim realized this, and later added things into the story to bring back its meaning.
Although a simple story may not take much to create, great stories like the ones in The Things They Carried usually take much more. The things Tim does are what makes the book so interesting. They make you think and wonder. The book makes you really think about what goes into writing a book, and it makes you realize that The Things They Carried is much more than just spilling out memories on a paper. It’s full of storytelling techniques that improve the story, and make it much more