O'Brien's Double Truth

Barden, Thomas. “Urban Legends in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried.” MLA International Bibliography. EBSCO. Web. 7 Dec. 2010

Thomas Barden states that O’Brien’s novels are designed to defend, explain, and raise question within the social group that O’Brien participated in during the year of his war. Barden states that O’Brien turned to oral narratives to discuss his experiences that he has been through. Tim O’Brien is fully aware of his audience and he constantly addresses the reader and he is trying to connect with his readers. For instance, —"I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is sometimes truer than happening- truth" (103). Barden was a Lieutenant in the military, so he has more of an understanding of what O’Brien is discussing. He also states that “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” is the most extended event of storytelling in The Things They Carried. “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” provides a model of how O’Brien’s idea of “story truth” operates to explore the soldier’s most deep-seated anxieties. Barden states that “The moral lesson of the taboo violation intermixes in this narrative with the bitter truth that even a "sweetheart" is susceptible to Vietnam's power to corrupt” (11). Barden believes that O’Brien writes stories and books that put us as readers through the experience. Barden also states that O’Brien shows the audience nothing that had meanings until the soldiers agreed upon them. Tim O’Brien is trying to create a greater connection between himself and the audience and Tim O'Brien knows that if you can experience this "story truth," the group's narrations of reality, then you have experienced Vietnam.

Barden’s point of view may make readers question the purpose behind Tim O’Brien and his act of storytelling, was he just trying to get his story out there or was her trying to make the reader’s experience Vietnam. The answer is not left for me to answer, but this point of view leads to these types of questions and pondering. To what exactly do O'Brien's oral narratives educate his characters? What exactly do the narratives validate for them? This source is important when thinking about answering our research question because the readers are exposed to the ideas of O’Brien’s act of getting his reader to feel experienced rather than just a recollection of his stories. Also, the point of view of this article is coming from someone who has already experienced what O’Brien is discussing which may allow the reader a better connection with O’Brien because the article is being told by a legit Lieutenant. By reading this article, readers can be exposed to the ideas of storytelling and its’ importance from other Veteran’s and understand the significance and power the war had on these men.