The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien are a collection of short chapters depicting how O’Brien, the protagonist, experience war and the writing of the book about his experience. The story differentiation on the “happening truth” - the fact, and the “story truth” - how the story should have been told, portrait a more vivid picture of, not the Vietnam war, but the experience of the war. O’Brien uses the combination of both “happening truth” and “story truth” to present the nature of memory of the war, and by focusing on the “story truth”, he brings out the emotional values of the stories, allows the readers to empathize with the characters.
The distortion from “happening truth” into “story truth” reflects the ambiguous nature of memory and …show more content…
According to O’Brien, the narrator who is connected to Tim O’Brien the author, in “Good Form”, the “invented” (114) details serve to make the reader to “feel what [O’Brien] felt” (115). Consequently, by including the emotional factor into the story, the author successfully to brings out a “truer” (115) experience than just telling what actually happens due to the distance in understanding. This idea is demonstrated in the chapter “Field Trip”, where those who didn’t participate in the war and are only given to the “happening truth”, are represented as Kathleen, O’Brien’s daughter. When witnessing her father’s interested in a dry river bank, and later his action of jumping into the murky water for a swim, Kathleen responds with boredom and incomprehension. Opposite to Kathleen, because of how the late in the story the chapter is located, the reader has already grown accustomed to the “story truth” - the emotional truth of the events, and thus by contrasting them with the unknowing Kathleen, O’Brien, the author, shows the effects of incorporating the invented truth in making the seemingly distant and inconceivable war stories, more understandable. Accordingly, the “story truth” acts as a bridge for the reader to understand the nature of a war story: ambiguous, unclear, and emotionally- focused.
The uses of both the “happening truth” and the “story truth” in The Things They Carried creates a better “war stories”. The focus on the emotional values of the stories and the use of both “truths” to mimics the ambiguous nature of memory resulting in more empathy from the readers. Consequently, the author bridge the distance between a war veteran and the readers, allowing them to be able to experience and understand the harsh nature of the Vietnam
The distortion from “happening truth” into “story truth” reflects the ambiguous nature of memory and …show more content…
According to O’Brien, the narrator who is connected to Tim O’Brien the author, in “Good Form”, the “invented” (114) details serve to make the reader to “feel what [O’Brien] felt” (115). Consequently, by including the emotional factor into the story, the author successfully to brings out a “truer” (115) experience than just telling what actually happens due to the distance in understanding. This idea is demonstrated in the chapter “Field Trip”, where those who didn’t participate in the war and are only given to the “happening truth”, are represented as Kathleen, O’Brien’s daughter. When witnessing her father’s interested in a dry river bank, and later his action of jumping into the murky water for a swim, Kathleen responds with boredom and incomprehension. Opposite to Kathleen, because of how the late in the story the chapter is located, the reader has already grown accustomed to the “story truth” - the emotional truth of the events, and thus by contrasting them with the unknowing Kathleen, O’Brien, the author, shows the effects of incorporating the invented truth in making the seemingly distant and inconceivable war stories, more understandable. Accordingly, the “story truth” acts as a bridge for the reader to understand the nature of a war story: ambiguous, unclear, and emotionally- focused.
The uses of both the “happening truth” and the “story truth” in The Things They Carried creates a better “war stories”. The focus on the emotional values of the stories and the use of both “truths” to mimics the ambiguous nature of memory resulting in more empathy from the readers. Consequently, the author bridge the distance between a war veteran and the readers, allowing them to be able to experience and understand the harsh nature of the Vietnam