REAL

                A real story is not about facts, it is not based on if it was true or not. What makes, a real story are the human emotions and the interaction shared between groups of people. Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried is real because all the stories create the human aspect that is the core of life. Tim O’Brien says true war stories have no morals or any emotions to it. This may be true however; lies do not dilute how real the story actually is. His stories leave a stigma in the hearts of the reader; this action makes all the stories told real. Humans lie, they tell the truth, regardless of this their existence in the world is still real. It is the concept that these stories tell lies and at the same time tell a truth that makes them human. They are created from the hearts and minds of individuals and become real because readers believe they are. O’Brien believes if the story didn't actually happen then it cannot be real. However what is real simply transcends all aspects of what is fiction, and relies on what people think. A real story gives all the power to the person perceiving it and gives them the power to decide if the story is true or not. In world of the novel what is true is or little importance only thing that seems to matter is the story able to persuade the reader to believe it is real. If the story is able to that then it becomes real.