Ideas Of Truth In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

1664 Words4 Pages

Many people have different ideas of truth, which is a huge theme in “The Things they Carried”. It’s all based on the person, and their own experience. Tim O’Brien happen to be someone who had a very interesting way of explaining his “truths”, especially when dealing with war. He had a way of describing an imaginary truth, to get through all of his experiences during war. Whether it was about Jimmy Cross and the women in his life Martha, or explaining how gruesome his whole experience was during the Vietnam war. Tim O’Brien does a great job of explaining something metaphorically, when simply meaning another when it comes to experiences he had in the Vietnam war. But yet again, these are considered his “truths”. A huge example of truths is Jimmy Cross love for Martha, and the perception he has of her as a women. It goes to show his truth of Martha, and the relationship he felt they had. For instance, Jimmy Cross talks about how much he truly loves Martha, but Martha was always out of reach. He is so infatuated with her that he even begins to explain how he would carefully open the letters he had from her. He …show more content…

Its all about the person 's experience, and their perception of the experience. There can be many different sides to a story, and very well be each individual 's truth. Tim O’Brien is a perfect example, he explains his truth about the Vietnam War in his own way and how he felt through his experiences. You get to see Tim O’Brien explain his own personal truths, and although he may have had different ways of explaining the Vietnam War it is his own truth. Whether it was about Jimmy Cross and his love for Martha, or the horrific experience of Ted Lavender being killed. He did a great job telling the story, whether it metaphorically meant something else or a figment of his imagination. It was his truth of the Vietnam

Open Document