Storytelling In The Things They Carried Essay

As far back as anyone can recall, the art of storytelling has been practiced by individuals of every race, gender, and culture. Whether it be native americans sitting around the fire, speaking about the greatness their ancestors possessed, or even grandma telling a bedtime tale. Storytelling is defined as, “The interactive art of using words and actions to reveal the elements and images of a story while encouraging the listener's imagination”. With that being observed, it’s apparent how storytelling serves to become a very prevalent idea contained in the book, “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien. Set during the Vietnam War, a time known for great quantities of American casualties, these very stories portrayed in the novel serve to express

Rather, the stories are short and straight to the point in order to avoid glorifying them so that content of the story maintains its relevancy to the experience that the soldiers had in the Vietnam war. He is found constantly blending fact and fiction throughout the book in hopes of exaggerating the fact that often the validity of a war story is much less relevant than the act of expressing a point or moral. Additionally, its made clear that the author’s goal is not to compose a novel solely about the history of the Vietnam War, but instead to depict how discussing war experiences serves in the establishment, or lack thereof, of bonds between a soldier and the audience he/she is speaking to. He believes that stories contain a great deal of power, since they allow people to confront the past together and share otherwise unknowable experiences. Overall, Tim O’Brien’s writing magnifies his belief that the hard facts surrounding an event are less important than the overbearing truths the event serves to reveal, and how it, in turn, affected the fifty-eight thousand killed, two thousand captured, and three hundred fifty thousand maimed and wounded