Flexibility of the Truth Essay -- Literary Analysis, Tim OBrien

Story- virtue is sometimes truer than happening- faithfulness. (171) When around people read this quote in Tim OBriens The Things They Carried, they think story truth is emotional truth while happening truth refers to the facts and reality. still beneath the surface we take on that the truth is never materially told. No matter how you tell a story the actual truth will never be revealed. The actual truth is for our own sense of self.Throughout the story The Lives of the Dead, OBrien recalls his history with Linda, his first love. Linda wore a new red summit very(prenominal) unusual. (217) OBrien has no idea what is going on with Linda at this dit in time, but the cap is clearly hiding the truth. It is non until later, when snick Veenhof sneakily lifted off the cap that Lindas head is revealed with a smooth, pale, unequivocal white. (222) The whiteness of Lindas head seems to be in reference to a blank slate the purity of Linda, but more so the truth. If OBrien wrote that her head was tan or didnt even refer to the reputation of the color of her head, then we wouldnt have read closely into this passage.But if you continue reading, we come across this there was a large Band-Aid at the congest of her head (222) which can be interpreted as covering up the remaining truth. From this moment on, we can assume that Linda has some sort of bootleg disease and it is confirmed later in the chapter. But what we dont fare is how she got it, when she got it, why she got it (genetic or just random), or more importantly, what she is sentiment throughout this process. This Band-Aid covers up the remaining answers we have from this point on close to Linda. And since she does not speak because Timmy and Linda have a pure knowing (218) of individually other, ... ...rite about Linda to rid his memory of the horridness that she went through the day her cap was removed and the visual truth came out.The truth is glorified and considered moral, but if we kn ow that someone will not understand the truth (which happens in most cases), then we tend to bend it. But how flexible is the truth? The formulation of stretching the truth is very relevant in Tim OBriens case. In The Things They Carried, he knows the truth about his characters and his stories, but he stretches the truth continuously throughout his novel and especially with Linda in his dreams. He is not trying to deceive us. He is actually trying to do the antagonist and try to get us to understand the truth, not so a lot know the truth. Understanding the truth is not overrated, it is just not chink for words or even expressions. The truth is not for anyone, but yourself.