At first glance, Sylvia Plath‘s “Daddy” and Tim O’Brien’s “How to Tell a True War Story” may seem to share nothing in common. In “Daddy,” Sylvia Plath reveals about her complex relationship with her father, while Tim O’Brien’s “How to Tell a True War Story” focuses on issues of war and the art of storytelling. But in many ways, a confessional poem is similar to a war story. It may be true that confessional poetry mainly focuses on strictly mental and personal aspects of individual experience and, hence, is entirely subjective, while war stories may seem more objective because they describe physical events. Thus, this seemingly makes the truths of war stories truer. However, O’Brien states that “In any war story, but especially a true one, it’s …show more content…
After the death of Curt Lemon, Rat writes a letter to Lemon’s sister about how great her brother was to him. He tells her about her brother “going out on these really badass night patrols”, having “stainless steel balls”, and going “fishing with a whole damn crate of hand grenades” along with all the gore that this ensued (174). Rat “pours his heart out” into this letter, but Curt’s sister never replies back (175). To Rat, these were the truths that made Curt Lemon a great man; however, to Lemon’s sister, these were not what made her brother great. In fact, for her, these stories were not true stories about her brother because the man Rat was describing was a stranger to …show more content…
When he was blown up into that tree, there were body parts “just hanging there” including the “white bone of an arm” along with what must have been intestines (182). This paints a dark and gory picture, however O’Brien says “what wakes me up twenty years later is Norman Bowker singing “Lemon Tree” as we threw down the parts” (182). Similarly, the topics and metaphors in “Daddy” are dark as well. But what makes the poem so potent is how the subject is delivered. Plath speaks in a tone similar to a nursery rhyme. For such a dark topic, she speaks of it very playfully which paradoxically makes the poem even more sick and twisted. For example, “Daddy” features childish nonsensical words such as “gobbledygoo” (42). And although it follows no set rhyme scheme, it is filled with internal and end rhyme along with loads of alliteration. But perhaps the most unsettling part, is that Plath chooses to call him daddy and not father or
An interesting combination of recalled events and editorial commentary, the story is not set up like a traditional short story. One of the most interesting, and perhaps troubling, aspects of the construction of “How to Tell a True War Story” is O’Brien’s choice to create a fictional, first-person narrator who might just as well be the author himself. Because “How to Tell a True War Story” is told from a first-person perspective and O’Brien is an actual Vietnam veteran, a certain authenticity to this story is added. He, as the “expert” of war leads the reader through the story. Since O’Brien has experienced the actual war from a soldier’s point of view, he should be able to present the truth about war...
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.
In one of the most influential pieces of postmodern literature, Tim O’Brien in The Things They Carried introduces us to a war fact/fiction writing where two of these themes intermingle into each other to such degree that nothing remains clear in the end but the emotional communication that attempts to convey the horrors of the Vietnam War. This writing style has distinguished Tim O’Brien from many other authors that wrote in the same genre and conveyed their respective style. In The Things They carried, the treatment of the Vietnam War is very precise, in the meaning of the nature of the war itself. It is a collection of short stories that contain near-fictional characters accounting their experiences in the Vietnam War. This near-fiction becomes troubling for the readers of Tim O’Brien. The readers listen to the author telling them stories about his experiences about the war differently, on many occasions through interviews, real life and then the narratives in The Things They Carried which also adds to the ambiguity of the prime narrative of the author that is near-fiction or near-fact. Tobey C. Herzog analyzes this prime narrative in his paper “Tim O’Brien “True Lies”” and presents us with eight hypothesis that may explain the behavior of the author and his prime narrative of story-truths. This paper will attempt to analyze one of the eight hypothesis and try to judge its worth for explaining the prime narrative of “True Lies” that are relevant in the life and works of Tim O’Brien.
Of course O’Brien recounts his own experiences during the war, but he also uses metafiction to parallel the relationship between fiction immortality. Not only does he relive his experiences in Vietnam by telling war stories, he examines the mechanics behind writing stories. By paralleling these two aspects, O’Brien produces a novel that exposes the purpose behind his stories, and the relationship between fiction, reality, and the immortality of storytelling. Unlike most war novels, O’Brien’s stories are not written for therapeutic purposes or to convey an image of heroism. He tells the tales in The Things They Carried to recount and preserve his past, and to realize that the results of his experiences made him who he is
The short story “Initiation”, by Sylvia Plath, is a short story about a girl who is struggling to feel like she fits in with everybody else. At first, she is invited to join her high school’s sorority. Then, after completing multiple initiation tasks, she realizes that the sorority girls aren't who she thought they were. After that, during one of the initiation tasks, she meets a unique person riding a bus, who tells her about heather birds, mythological birds that are free. Finally, she decides that she should leave the sorority. In the end, she realizes that being part of the sorority will constrain her, and that she would rather be a heather bird than a tame
In “How to Tell a True War Story” by Tim O’Brien, Orwell’s ideas are questioned and the competition between the truth and the underlying meaning of a story is discussed. O’Brien’s story depicts that the truth isn’t always a simple concept; and that not every piece of literature or story told can follow Orwell’s list of rules (Orwell 285). The story is told through an unnamed narrator as he re-encounters memories from his past as a soldier in the Vietnam War. With his recollection of past encounters, the narrator also offers us segments of didactic explanation about what a “true war story” is and the power it has on the human body (O’Brien 65). O’Brien uses fictional literature and the narration of past experiences to raise a question; to what extent should the lack of precision, under all circumstances, be allowed? In reality, no story is ever really truthful, and even if it is, we have no proof of it. The reader never feels secure in what they are being told. The reliability of the source, the author, and the narrator are always being questioned, but the importance of a story isn’t about the truth or the accuracy in which it is told, but about the “sunlight” it carries (O’Brien 81).
... war, but: “Tim trying to save Timmy’s life with a story.” (O’Brien 233). The stories by the veterans of war, struggle with their own mental illnesses in their stories of fiction. Both stories are about their reflection of the war they served in.
O’Brien, Tim. How to Tell a True War Story. Literature and Ourselves. Sixth Edition. Eds.
In his assessment of storytelling, O’Brien highlights the challenges of telling stories by including many tales that take place after the Vietnam War. For example, back in America, the soldier’s of Vietnam found
The difficult association between the occurrence of war and storytelling is told through the eyes of Tim O’Brien; he explains that a true war story has a supreme adherence to offensiveness that provides a sense of pride and courage commonly found in storytelling. “The thing about a story is that you dream it as you tell it, hoping that others might then dream along with you, and in this way memory and im...
Sylvia Plath’s life was full of disappointment, gloominess and resentment. Her relationship status with her parents was hostile and spiteful, especially with her father. Growing up during World War II did not help the mood of the nation either, which was dark and dreary. At age 8 Plath’s father of German ancestry died of diabetes and even though their relationship was never established nor secure, his death took a toll on her. “For Sylvia, who had been his favorite, it was an emotional holocaust and an experience from which she never fully recovered” (Kehoe 90). Since she was so young she never got to work out her unsettled feelings with him. Even at age eight, she hid when he was around because she was fearful of him. When she was in his presence his strict and authoritarian figure had left an overpowering barrier between their relationship. Sadly enough by age eight Plath instead of making memories with her dad playing in the yard she resented him and wanted nothing to do with him (Kehoe). These deep-seated feelings played a major role in Plath’s poetry writings. Along with his “hilterian figure,” her father’s attitude towards women was egotistical and dismissive, uncondemning. This behavior infuriated Plath; she was enraged about the double standard behavior towards women. Plath felt controlled in male-dominated world (Lant). “Because Plath associates power so exclusively with men, her conviction that femininity is suffocating and inhibiting comes as no surprise” (Lant 631). This idea of a male-dominated world also influenced Plath’s writing. Unfortunately, Plath married a man just like her father Ted Hughes. “Hughes abandonment apparently stirred in her the memories and feelings she had struggled with when her ...
The figurative language in the poem “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath can be used to discover a deeper significant of the poem. By using figurative language throughout the poem such as symbolism, imagery, and wordplay, Plath reveals hidden messages about her relationship with her father. Plath uses symbols of Nazis, vampires, size, and communication to help reveal a message about her dad.
At the young age of eight Sylvia’s father had died due to complications from his diabetes. Her relationship with her father wasn’t the normal father daughter bond. Sylvia was scared of her father as he was a very strict and stern man. He had very high standards for Sylvia which she found hard to reach. After her father had died there was some heartbreak and sadness felt but there wasn’t enough heartbreak for it to bypass all of the selfishness her father had. After his death Sylvia had wrote a poem called “Daddy” where you can see the hatred she had felt “There's a stake in your fat black heart And the villagers never liked you. They are dancing and stamping on you. They always knew it was you. Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I'm through.” (www.poets.org, 2014). although there was mostly hatred you can also see how even though they had a bad relationship she still misses him “Bit my pretty red heart in two. I was ten when they buried you. At twenty I tried to die And get back, back, back to you. I thought even the bones would do.” (www.poets.org, 2014). Along with writing a poem about her dad Sylvia had also wrote many other poems, her first poem was even published in the Boston Herald’s ch...
Sylvia Plath, an American poet, confessional writer, an intelligent, though emotional sufferer of depression, and ultimately, a bipolar suicidal, is more famous and recognized in death, than ever in life. Her death brought new and deeper meaning to her poetry, which provided an extremely profound and emotional insight into Plath’s innermost feelings and thoughts. Plath used her poetry to explore and to figure out her own life, but she was ever-haunted by the death of her father when she was 8, and by her husband, Ted Hughes, who both caused her a high degree of emotional distress. It is this, though, this resulted in the powerful, intense, and sensitive poems, which have allowed, or even encouraged Plath to release her inner-most self, and hence, to free herself from the oppression and the metaphorical cage that the memory of her father had trapped her in. “Daddy”, one of Plath’s most famous poems, and “Ariel”, the title poem of Plath’s second book of poetry, are two important stepping stones on Plath’s path to freedom.
October 27, 1932 is the exact date that the one and only Sylvia Plath was born on. She was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She kept a journal of her poetic work that she started at an early age. As she grew older and wiser, she worked at Mademoiselle magazine as a guest editor while she was attending college. She found her self in a rough obstacle during that time and tried to take her life by overdosing on sleeping pills. After getting the proper treatment at a mental health facility, she went back to school to finish her degree in 1955. “Plath herself had suffered a serious breakdown and attempted suicide between her junior and senior years in college”(Baym). She met Ted Hughes, who she married in 1956, at Cambridge University in England.