Tim O'Briens' Perspective and Statements in Regard to Storytelling and Relationship to the Truth in The Things They Carried
Each day that we live our lives we are faced with the opportunity to believe and tell many stories and dramatizations. As a young child in Hebrew School you were taught that the world was created in six days and on the seventh day God rested. In a Christian home you were told about Saint Nick. On a juvenile level, stories serve a purpose to teach something and to give hope. As adults we continue to tell stories to ease the pain of a subject or to get us through a hard time. A mother that has lost a son in a tragic accident will never be told by the doctor that her son died in pain, but the doctor might say he died peacefully. Tim O'Brien uses storytelling in his book to teach lessons from the war, and to have us understand about the baggage that he and his fellow men had to carry.
Before the book even begins there is a page which really helps to set the tone for the book. It also helps the reader to better understand the pages ahead.
This book is essentially different from any other that has been published concerning the 'late war' or any of incidents. Those who have had any such experiences as the author will see its truthfulness at once, and to all other readers it is commended as a statement of actual things by one who experienced them to the fullest. (O'Brien Prologue)
This passage is interesting if the reader knows nothing about the book at this point the reader might question the passage, what does this mean? If you are one of the few people who read a book completely cover to cover, the publishers page states "This is a work of fiction. Except for a few details regarding the author's own life all incidents, names, and characters are imaginary (O'Brien Prologue). You have no what is going to be real or fiction.
In the first chapter of The Things They Carried, O'Brien lists all of what each man brings with them to war. It seems very truthful, but there is doubt in your mind as to whether or not Jimmy Cross really carried letters from a girl named Martha or even if a girl named Martha really existed.
Stories are the way humans share, create, and explore their many experiences and identities with each other. When a story is told, the original content lingers depending upon how the storyteller recalls the content. Once the story is retold, it often takes on different details and meanings, because each storyteller adds their own perspective, experience, and meaning. The story then begins to have its own life. Each storyteller has a connection to the beginning and the end of the story.
Ward, Geoffrey C. and Burns, Ken, The War, An Intimate History 1941-1945. (New York: Knopf 2007)
The point of stories it to tell a tale and inflict certain emotions onto the reader. Tim O’Brien uses this in his novel The Things They Carried. These stories were fictional but true, regaling his experiences of war. In the last chapter he writes that stories have the ability to save people. He does not mean “save” in a biblical sense, but as if a person saved the progress on a game they have been playing.
O'Brien explains how the stories told about those who have passed are meant to keep the deceased's life alive. The "weight of memory" was one thing all the solders carried (14). When added to the physical weight of their gear and the emotional burdens of war, it was all too much. In response, the men altered their perceptions of the truth in order to lighten the haunting weight of memory. O'Brien suggests "in a true war story nothing is ever absolutely true," memory is altered to compensate for its weight (82). In this way, O'Brien, and the rest of the men, were able to utilize "story-truth (179)." Stories alter truth, therefore, a well-told story can actually allow the dead to continue to live on. "In a story, the dead sometimes smile and sit up and return to the world (225)." In this way you could "keep the dead alive" with "blatant lies, bringing the body and soul back together (239)." O'Brien remembers listening to a story about Curt Lemon. He recalls how "you'd never know that Curt Lemon was dead (240)." It seemed like "he was still out there in the dark" yet, "he was dead (240)." Similarly O'Brien uses story to save his childhood friend's life, "not her body - her life (236)." In his stories Linda "can smile and sit up. She can reach out (236)." He allows her to come to life and "touch [h...
Hynes, Samuel Lynn. "What Happened in Nam." The soldiers' tale: bearing witness to modern war. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: A. Lane, 1997. 177-222. Print.
Before O’Brien introduces the characters, he introduces the items they carry as symbols of their humanity. The reader has a chance to develop curiosity for the depth of each character presented and is not instantly alienated by the war setting. In the first paragraph O’Brien introduces the letters Lieutenant Cross carries by writing, “First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha, a junior at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey. They were not love letters, but Lieutenant Cross was hoping” (O'Brien 337). The letters are one of the most prominent symbols the reader encounters and at the story’s opening, act as a symbol of home, youth, and hope. Because he carries these dainty baubles, Cross seems more vulnerable, therefore, more human. The reader sees this again when introduced to more of the soldiers inventory, “Among the necessities or near-necessities were P-38 can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosqui...
O'Neill, William L. World War II: A Student Companion. New York: Oxford UP, 1999. Print.
In paragraph one, the narrative stated that Lieutenant Cross carried letters he received from Martha. Although they were not love letters, all Lieutenant Cross could do was hope they were.
The thing the soldiers carried were sorted into 3 groups, physical, symbolic, and personal. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried the usual physical objects a soldier such as clothes, boots, helmet, snacks, rations, paperwork, knives, grenades, and guns with their respective magazine. As a leader, however; he carried a compass, maps, code books, binoculars, a .45 caliber pistol, and a strobe light. These physical items showed that he was for the war, but only on the outside. In the symbolic sense, he also carried the lives of his men as well as the blame for their death. This showed that he cared for his group even though he was taught to think otherwise. He also humped personal objects from Martha, a girl who did not return the love Cross had for
Jimmy Cross in the dynamic character in the short story "The Things They Carried", at first this man was motivated to get through the war and optimistic, thinking he was going to get home to the girl he loved. Then after the tragic event of his friend and soldier dying, Cross realized that he had loved Martha more than the soldiers he was supposed to be protecting. He realized he had been living in a fantasy world, loving a woman who never loved him back; carrying the burden of fake love around with him everywhere he went. According to Tina Chen in Contemporary Literature "…the book questions the nature of truth and the possibility of ever having an unchallenged ‘sense of the definite.'" (Chen 79) After the horrifying event of losing a soldier, that is where Cross changed forever, knowing there is nothing that is definite. Men die, you love people who do not love you back, bad things happen. O'Brien used the tragic death of Ted Lavender to cause Jimmy Cross to change. He turned into a man who no longer was in this war for Martha; he jumped out of that fantasy and into reality. The author says this about Jimmy Cross, "He was now determined to perform his duties firmly and without negligence." (O'Brien 428) He changed into a man who no longer thought in a fantasy land, the trauma of war had changed him, and now that
The question “Why do we tell stories” does not have one simple answer as any individual may have a different response to the question based on their background but, this essay will attempt to form a cohesive answer to the question by responding to three statements, (1)“Some texts seem to be fighting for or against social change or political attitudes or traditions. Choose and discuss the fight for or against this change.”, (2)“Humans are the only animals who seek to understand themselves.The search of this understanding is a theme in many pieces of literature.”, (3) “Lord Acton once said, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” The use and abuse of power is a recurring theme. Discuss how this theme is developed.” ;
O’Neill, William L. World War II A Student Companion. 1 ed. William H. Chafe. New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Several stories into the novel, in the section, “How to tell a true war story”, O’Brien begins to warn readers of the lies and exaggerations that may occur when veterans tell war stories.
Though the book is a novel, it gives the reader insights into the realities of war. In this genre, the author is free to develop the characters in a way that brings the reader into the life of Paul Baumer and his comrades. The novel frees the author from recounting only cold, sterile facts. This approach allows the reader to experience what might have been irrelevant facts if presented in a textbook. This book is written from a perspective foreign to most Americans.
Damrosch, David, ed. "Perspectives: The Great War: Confronting the Modern." The Longman Anthology of British Literature. New York: Addison-Wesley Educational Inc., 2003. 2183-2195.