Stories and Storytelling

       Foe, like The Things They Carried, incorporates discussion about stories and storytelling.  In Foe, Barton says, "When I reflect on my story I seem to exist only as the one who came, the one who witnessed, the one who longed to be gone: a being without substance, a ghost beside the true body of Cruso.  Is that the fate of all storytellers?" (Foe, 51).  Barton does not seem to feel a connection to the story when she tells it even though it is a significant part of her life.  O'Brien seems to agree with Barton when he says, “By telling stories, you objectify your own experience.  You separate it from yourself,” (TTTC, 152).  While these stories are significant in his life, when he recounts them, O'Brien detaches himself from the experience, similar to the way Barton feels like a ghost when she tells her stories.  While both characters explain that stories are important to them, storytelling makes their stories feel less real to them.
     Both authors seem to agree that words are powerful.  When Barton explains to Friday that she has told Foe about him, she says, "Foe has not met you, but he knows of you, from what I have told him, using words.  That is part of the magic of words," (Foe, 58).  She believes that words are magical and they allow someone to know someone else just through the words they hear about them.  O'Brien would most likely agree, and he says, "I learned that words make a difference," (TTTC, 226).  Stories saved O'Brien because they helped him cope with the pain of loss and suffering.  He expresses the power of words and how they can make a difference in one's life.  These two authors seem to have similar feelings about stories and storytelling since they have overlapping messages throughout these novels.