Truth and Troop Hardships in a Chapter of The Things They...

Throughout Tim OBriens short work How to tell a true war story OBrien has two reoccurring themes. One is of the desensitization of the troops during their hardship regarding the events of the Vietnam War, and the other is of the concept of truth. Truth may seem simple enough to explain, but is in fact endowed with many layers. The story is chalked full of contradictions, as well as lies, and embellishments, and yet OBrien claims that these are the truth. The truth, whether it be war or societys, is in fact a concept that can be conveyed many times and in many ways. Whereas each is independently untrue, the combined collaboration of these half-truths is in essence the only real truth. People in such intense situations, such†¦show more content†¦Since the morale and the emotional tolerance of the troops has been pushed to cope with unbearable times, they may have to insert more facts that are completely false, so that not only does the listener feel, but the story teller feels as well. All you can do is tell it one more time, patiently, adding and subtracting, making up a few things to get at the real truth, (684) or feeling. So in essence, this embellished half-truth of a story is as true as the facts from a history book bringing us one step closer to the ultimate truth. The personal witnessing of events is a critical point of view in telling a true story. It may not be the entire truth, but it is the truth, as it seemed to the individual. The ideas get mixed up; you tend to miss a lot. And then afterward, when you go to tell about it, there is always that surreal feeling of what seemed to happen, which makes the story seem untrue. But in fact represents the truth exactly how it seemed. (677) Such as is the case of Curt Lemons death. Rat Kiley was having a good time, laughing with his best friend when Lemon stepped into the sunlight. In that instant he must have thought that the sunlight had killed him. But if I could ever get the story right...then you would believe the last thing Curt Lemon believed, which for him mustve been the final truth. (683) The truth appeared to Curt Lemon appeared as if he was killed by theShow MoreRelatedTheme Of Irony In The Things They Carried1329 Words   |  6 Pages In the novel The Things They Carried by Tim OBrien, metafiction is used to further the story. OBrien used the metafictional devices of irony, and nonlinear sequencing of events in order to push his story and properly represent the experience of war. Each metafictional device is used in order to advance the meaning of the story and let the reader truly understand the emotions and experience of being at war. Whether or not the story is perfectly true is not important, for OBrien is telling theRead MoreRhetorical Analysis of Barack Obama’s Inaugural Address Essay examples2307 Words   |  10 Pagespolitics or his views and past statements. As everyone in America knows, our country is in a crisis. 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