tragedy helps bring the truth

In "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien, the author shows how the only way to try to make someone understand the horrors of war is to exaggerate the truth, even though perhaps is not completely true. The one story of all the stories in The Things They Carried that really affected me was the one of Kiowa dying, and how Norman Bowker ended up killing himself. The description of this veteran in his small town, driving around with nothing to do, no one to talk to really hit home. O'Brien shows how veterans are never the same. Norman sees people who he use to know, in his past life, pre Vietnam, but now he can't talk to them about what is going on. There is a sense of desperation, of needing to express himself but he cannot. In the letter to Tim O’Brien, he writes about how O'Brien should write about a Veteran who sounds very familiar to Norman. He says, "This guy wants to talk about it, but he can't..." (157) All he wants is to talk about Kiowa, perhaps be reassured that the death was not his fault, yet he can't find anyone to open up to. The ache and regret for not having pulled Kiowa harder probably weighed Norman down like an anchor. Yet none of it is true, as we learn at the end when the author says, " Norman Bowker was in no way responsible for what happened to Kiowa. Norman did not experience a failure of nerve that night. He did not freeze up or loose the Silver Star for valor. That part of the story is my own." (161)

Though we learn that the Norman's freeze up never happened, it is necessary so that the reader can come close to feeling the pain and constant regret and guilt Norman felt. By increasing the tragedy, the author helps the reader get closer to the emotional truth, even though it’s not entirely accurate.

This story really shook me up, and the fact that Norman didn't actually fail almost was more devastating because he was guilty for no reason. I think the soldiers silence, his incapacity to express what happened make them different from the rest of society. O'Brien writes about Norman that "He could not describe what happened next, not ever, but he would've tried anyway. He would've spoken carefully so as to make it real for anyone who would listen. There were bubbles where Kiowa's head should've been." (149)

This book proves that war does change you. No one will ever understand what soldiers go through, and they themselves often can't explain it. The only way is to exaggerate, lie, and add on details, to try to make the listener understand something they never fully will be able to.