The Things They Carried has me constantly debating with myself as to whether this story is true. Even though O'Brien claims that the book is a work of fiction, I'm not inclined to believe him.
My distrust in O'Brien not only as a narrator but as the author comes from just that- he is both the narrator and the author. He claims that this story is fiction but then places a character in the book with his own name. Sure an author can narcissistically revolve an entire book around a character who shares his name, but I don't think this is the case. I believe that O'Brien placed this character in the book because this book is paralleling experiences from his own life.
I'm not saying that the book is actually a work of non-fiction; however I'm still not convinced otherwise. There is a quote from the book that leads me to believe that the book may be both fiction and non-fiction. O'Brien writes, "That's a true story that never happened" (84). I believe that O'Brien took true stories from his time in the military and put some sort of twist on them therefore making the book a work of fiction.
Where the twist in all of O'Brien's war stories lies, we may never know. However, I do believe that this book is a "true story that never happened." For O'Brien to say that the book is completely a work of fiction is somewhat misleading seeing as O'Brien the author had to have some sort of connection with O'Brien the character. This is what makes me distrust O'Brien the author and also makes me think- what else in this fictional book holds some sort of truth?
Love the title of this post!
ReplyDeleteAnd the basis of the post itself presents an important element for the navigation of O'Brien's text: namely, how are we to read "O'Brien"? It is O'Brien the author's play with his own name and his own life that raises the stakes of what a fiction novel is all about. Nice post.