The Things They Carried

For my final paper I am reading Tim O'Brien's Vietnam War novel, The Things They Carried. Since I got into reading it, this book has been difficult to put down. It is a collection of short(ish) stories that O'Brien tells about Vietnam. The difference between fact and fiction is a huge theme in this book, at least it seems to me. All of the stories are presented in a manner that would have the reader believe that they are true. The same characters inhabit most of the stories, all drawn from the same (presumably O'Brien's) rifle platoon in Vietnam. Here and there, O'Brien interjects some background about writing, or how a particular story came to be. But what intrigues me the most is how he describes the story-telling itself. If you've ever played telephone, or watched as a rumor spreads through a group of people, then you know how facts can be changed or tweaked, how everyone seems to hear a different version of "the truth." To me, and to most other people, it would seem, a story is a recollection of what happened, at a particular place and time. To O'Brien, a story is more like a vehicle with which to convey understanding of an abstract idea or emotion. To him, the little details that a story teller adds in, embellishing the tale with small lies to make it more interesting are not lies, as I would think of them. O'Brien sees them as useful additions that the story-teller uses to help the listener understand a concept or emotion. I just read a wonderful quote, in fact, about this mindset in The Things They Carried - "I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story truth is sometimes truer than happening truth." ... "What stories, I think, do, is make things present." ... "When my daughter asks me if I have ever killed somebody, I can say honestly, 'of course not sweetheart,' but I can also say honestly, 'of course I did.'" When I do get around to writing my paper, I think I will expand on this topic.