TOPIC Option I----- Story Truth and Happening Truth ( Tim O'Brien----The Things They Carried ) - Essay Example

Story Truth and Happening Truth Part A On the story” The man I killed,” O’Brien attempts to give a description of a Vietnam soldier he had killed using a meticulous physical description that included the details pertaining to his wounds. O’Brien goes ahead to imagine on the life history of this Viet soldier and visualizes the man as a scholar who took on the obligation to protect his village. According to O’Brien description, he says that his jaws were in his throat, and the man’s upper lip together with his teeth ware missing. One of this man’s eyes was shut while the other resembled the shape of a star hole. O’Brien visualized that the victim was born in 1946 to a family of farmers. Azar goes ahead to make unfriendly comments regarding the dead soldier but gets chased away by Kiowa after he realizes that O’Brien was offended. On his part, Kiowa advises O’Brien to stop gazing on the dead soldiers’ body. O’Brien guesses that the man he had killed was probably a soldier for one day based on his clean hair and finger nails. Later on, Kiowa tells O’Brien that he looked better and that he should even talk openly about the incidence. When O’Brien’s daughter was nine years old, he asks his father whether he had killed anyone in his life but he says no and hopes that his daughter will not come to ask the question again when she becomes an adult. O’Brien still believe that if he had not thrown the grenade, the soldier would not been harmed. In the “Ambush” story, which was approximated to be over twenty years after O’Brien killed the Viet soldier, Kathleen; Obrien’s daughter repeated her question and asks his father whether he had ever killed anyone before. Her daughters’ claims emanated from his obsession of writing stories related to war. Even after twenty years, O’Brien is still haunted by the death of the Viet soldier that he killed. He wrestles with much guilt and argues that the story was not one of life and death. He says if he had restrained himself from pulling the grenade pin, then the man would have been rescued. Part B The “happening truth” refers the actual events that took place in a novel, thus creating the foundation or even timeline on which a story is built on. Happening truth would therefore, mean nothing if the story truth is not applied to make the story more believable, readable and even enjoyable. O’Brien explains that there was a big difference between the real truth and the story truth. He talks of seeing a man dying on the trail which was near My Khe, but clarifies that he did not kill the man. Later he says that he made up the whole story. O’Brien says that his main aim was to make the reader feel what he personally felt, thus bringing the argument that; sometimes the story truth tends to be more truer compared to the “happening truth” which indicates the real happenings in the novel. Part C What makes an individual to believe that these happening truth are accurate is due to the repetition done in the chapter that indicates the accuracy of the incidence. They are the emphasis of the shocking reactions by O’Brien. For instance, the manner in which he describes the eyes of the dead soldier just indicates the accuracy of the happening truth in the story. He says that, the victim’s one eye was shut and the other had a star shaped hole, where the continuous repetition of the incidence indicates the hard moments that O’Brien was going through in his attempts to visualize the man he had just killed. Another element of happening truth being accurate in this story is where Kiowa is trying to make emphasis to O’Brien that the man he had killed was still meant to die, but he does not give any response (O’Brien). Kiowa in the chapter goes on to make continuous comments on the incidence and that O’Brien should not feel bad that he had killed but he does not give back any comment. This whole incidence displays an accurate true happening and thus, brings the feeling of sympathy to a reader, as one could feel the shock and the unbelief O’Brien had towards what he had done on taking another persons life. But the accurate thing about this incidence is that, he was there to witness the death of that soldier but he did not kill him. The story truth is that he had done the killing (O’Brien). O’Brien strongly conveys the fact that in wars, restrictions tend to be unclear until the order blend into disarrays, love into hatred, laws into anarchism and courtesy into savagery. The aspects of justice and beauty tend to loose their meaning and horror thrills. Disgust enthralls and the levels of consciousness, the walls that have been raised to contain realism are obliterated. O’Brien says that a true story of war is not possible to tell. He says that telling a true war story is the assessment of a compound link between a story telling and an experience of war (O’Brien). Among the characteristics of a true story as said by O’Brien is that a war story sounds to be too true when the story is so crazy for an individual to believe it. O’Brien mentions that true stories revolve around instincts and are not stale simplification such as war is hell. Part D In some instances as said earlier, the “story truth,” which is just a molding of the happening truth, tends to appear truer than the happening truth which is the real thing that took place. For instance, after O’Brien kills the soldier, he seems to be greatly shocked by the happening that he cannot even stop gazing at the body, and this description is repeated over and over. This makes us to believe that the manner that Tim is shocked implies that, it was his first time to kill in war. The manner he does the speculation makes the story to appear truer, though it is just a speculation. This is seen when he is speculating about the parents of the soldier being farmers, when he was born, his school life and about his short life (O’Brien). The willingness of O’Brien to cause a contradiction of himself to the reader gives an illustration of the point that he is just making up the story and the truth about killing the Viet soldier is not a certifiable fact. The Validity of any given story relies on the sentiments of a story, and they are the ones that determine whether a story is story truth or happening story (O’Brien). Another idea of war that does not really seem factual is the incident where Azar gets so excited when O’Brien kills the Viet soldier. The contrast under this particular incidence is that O’Brien is hit hard by killing the Soldier where he cannot even get his own eyes away from the body. Kiowa tries to understand O’Brien situation and assists him by telling him that, he should cease gazing at the dead soldier and try talking about the incident or even do some mental thinking about it. On the fact that O’Brien makes use of a first person to elaborate on his confusion and guilt of what had come over him, indicates some negotiations of his feelings as he operates in a world of fantasy. Some of the Tim’s ideas, especially on the idea of the dead soldier being young, dainty and slim assist in emphasizing on Tim’s’ Fixation especially on the outcomes of his actions (O’Brien). O’Brien also displays the story truths, through his major focus being directed on the physical characteristics of the man he had killed other than in the real happening focusing on his feelings rather. This is among the phrases that indicate the elements of a “story true” where he betrays his efforts to maintain some distance to help in killing the pain. He also narrates his story using a protagonist’s perspective other than using narrator aspect. There is nothing like a narrative commentary on the actions of a protagonist and thus we can only deduce what O’Brien is going through (O’Brien). The ideas and feelings brought about by the story in the novel makes an individual to have the negative perception of a war experience, even though one may be fighting to protect his or her country. Many people depict the idea of joining army as a an opportunity to heroically fight for ones country, but after reading this story, and internalizing what O’Brien felt after killing the Viet soldier, a notion of fear to kill just strikes in an individuals head. This story results to a turn around regarding what people perceive wars to be. By reading this story, a student should learn to be accountable of his or her conduct. If one behaves recklessly now, he should note that, the outcomes will haunt him even after he clears school, like the killing of a soldier haunted O’Brien’s twenty years later. In life also, one should understand that, there are some people who would celebrate on your misfortunes, this is witnessed when Azar is happy that the soldier is dead, but another lesson learnt is that, silence is the best weapon as O’Brien made no comment. Work Cited. O’Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. Cliffnotes, N.d.Web.2013, February, 28 Read More