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The Things They Carried: Story Truth

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The events we remember throughout our lives get molded into an alternative version of the actual truth through retelling and embellishment. “Story truth” is the term Tim O’Brien uses to describe this variation of the truth. In his book, “The Things They Carried,” O’Brien uses “story truth” to compel his readers to feel what he experienced during his service in war. With “story truth,” O’Brien provides us with an account of his personal experiences, as well as an idea of what others may have experienced, and explains how “story truth” can be dissected and analyzed as historical evidence.
“Story truth” is the reshaped, exaggerated, and/or sometimes completely made-up version of the actual truth. Tim O’Brien divulges, “For the common soldier, at least, war has the feel – the spiritual texture – of a great ghostly fog… There is no clarity. Everything swirls” (pg. 78). Telling a story repeatedly causes the teller to mold the truth into an adventure or fantasy that is more appealing to the listener than the actual truth. This “story truth” becomes even more common when …show more content…
It is meant to force the reader to connect with the story on an emotional level. Specific “story truth” is not meant to be used as historical fact, except with great care and comprehensive evidence. Although based on real events, the stories we use as entertainment are “story truth,” meant to leave us with a lasting emotional impression, but are not genuinely accurate. “Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing left to remember except the story” (pg. 36). When we are old and cannot remember how to put on our shoes or recognize our grandchildren, our lives will diminish into a series of “story truths” that we remember as the highlights and lowlights of our existence on

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