Sitting in class
this past week, I had been struck with a question. Why is it important to tell
the truth? Books such as The Things They Carried help people to recognize and
understand moments from our history. Even though the author does so by writing
mostly false stories, he manages to get his point across. The point in
recreating the truth had been to convey the true feelings that accompany war.
So, was the author in his right place to create false war stories? I believe he
was. The author had not lied if you consider the fact that he had told the
emotional truth. However, if he were to say that while posted in Vietnam he had
the best time of his life then he would have been in the wrong. This would have
been neither the emotional nor the factual truth and would have led to
misconceptions about the Vietnam War. However, in terms of truth, not
everything can be seen in black and white and I believe truth comes in gray. So, yes, it is
important to tell the truth. Whether you tell the emotional or factual is up to
you.
I like the personalized tone of your blog! It is very friendly and casual, yet this blog still contains quality analysis. I also like how you include colors to describe truth. It matches your theme very well and sufficiently expresses your thoughts on the topic.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this completely. The way you explained how truth goes along with feeling in a way that's not black and white is exactly how I felt during class, but I couldn't get it into words! I also believe that by using false stories to get across the feelings made the story different in it's own way.
ReplyDeleteI feel as if Tim O'Brien explained his truth as to how he would have wanted his Vietnam experience to go, which is relevant as to why his novel is non-linear. I completely agree that the truth is emotional or factual.
ReplyDelete