War is truly a traumatic experience that no one who’s involved can truly get over. War forces you to see all the gruesome and negative things you never thought you would experience. Tim O’Brien is a prime example of just how much war can put you through and how it changes you as a person. Tim was just in need of venting and expression and so he embodied all of his horrific and flabbergasting experiences in a novel known as “The Things They Carried” along with various soldiers he met along the way while fighting for both his country and his life. Tim O’Brien once made the assertion in an interview with Texas Monthly which states “Good movies—and good novels, too—do not depend upon accurate portrayals. Accuracy is irrelevant. Is the Mona Lisa
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On the other hand, the fact that this novel, “The Things They Carried” does not represent accurate portrayals is what shaped this novel to what it is today and its success. The lacking of accurate portrayals allowed the audience to experience secondhand what he felt everyday while he was at war and just how bad the war can be although there were parts where he mentioned the war as if it was just a daily hangout between the soldiers when in reality it was the opposite of that. In fact, accurate portrayals would have ruined this book because it would have lacked details, in spite of those details being excruciating; it gave the author his credibility and allowed for the audience to believe what he was saying since the events were laid out yet they were mentioned with features/details even though most of it was made up. The thing that makes this novel is essentially all the details that the author made up. For example, the author made up the fact that he has a daughter, however; that served a purpose because by the author lying about this he was able to make the story more dramatic and he wanted to ring true to the story which it did and this also established credibility. At the end of the day. Tim O’Brien was a soldier and he experienced several things that people usually do not and that fact alone makes this novel relevant and true yet there was some lie mixed into the truth and this was only done to create pathos and show/explain to people what war really feels like and what war put this people through. Tim O’Brien’s imagination and creativity is what saved this book and allowed us to be moved and look inward to
On the other hand, the fact that this novel, “The Things They Carried” does not represent accurate portrayals is what shaped this novel to what it is today and its success. The lacking of accurate portrayals allowed the audience to experience secondhand what he felt everyday while he was at war and just how bad the war can be although there were parts where he mentioned the war as if it was just a daily hangout between the soldiers when in reality it was the opposite of that. In fact, accurate portrayals would have ruined this book because it would have lacked details, in spite of those details being excruciating; it gave the author his credibility and allowed for the audience to believe what he was saying since the events were laid out yet they were mentioned with features/details even though most of it was made up. The thing that makes this novel is essentially all the details that the author made up. For example, the author made up the fact that he has a daughter, however; that served a purpose because by the author lying about this he was able to make the story more dramatic and he wanted to ring true to the story which it did and this also established credibility. At the end of the day. Tim O’Brien was a soldier and he experienced several things that people usually do not and that fact alone makes this novel relevant and true yet there was some lie mixed into the truth and this was only done to create pathos and show/explain to people what war really feels like and what war put this people through. Tim O’Brien’s imagination and creativity is what saved this book and allowed us to be moved and look inward to