jeherohaku
New member
This is an excerpt from an analysis paper on The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. My main concern is that I rambled on in the analysis portion of this paragraph; it turned out a little longer than I expected it to. Any other constructive criticism is also greatly appreciated.
Even though O’Brien practically dedicated a whole story to the idea of truth in war, his views on this subject are illustrated throughout the book. The story “Spin” is another collection of short stories within a short story, and he again uses one of those stories to make his point about truth. The story in question is one told to him by Mitchell Sanders about a soldier who went AWOL, but came back because he missed the war. O’Brien reminisces on the story, saying “Most of it he made up, I’m sure, but even so, it gave me a quick truth-goose. Because it’s all relative” (34). Here he makes his point very plainly when he says “it’s all relative.” We’re all different, so it is practically impossible two people will perceive something exactly the same. Everything, absolutely everything, is relative, subjective according to each person’s individual perceptions. One more thing O’Brien is demonstrating here is that by altering his perception, he can make something seem true. He acknowledges that the story was most likely made up, but he also says how despite that, it gave him a “truth-goose,” meaning it felt as real as the truth to him. Some people may even mistake that for the truth, and that is where we start getting away from the universal, objective truth, and start instead inserting our own truths based off of our individual perceptions. Perhaps some may even be able to deliberately alter their truth by altering their perceptions. The absolute, objective truth, if it even exists, is virtually unattainable.
Even though O’Brien practically dedicated a whole story to the idea of truth in war, his views on this subject are illustrated throughout the book. The story “Spin” is another collection of short stories within a short story, and he again uses one of those stories to make his point about truth. The story in question is one told to him by Mitchell Sanders about a soldier who went AWOL, but came back because he missed the war. O’Brien reminisces on the story, saying “Most of it he made up, I’m sure, but even so, it gave me a quick truth-goose. Because it’s all relative” (34). Here he makes his point very plainly when he says “it’s all relative.” We’re all different, so it is practically impossible two people will perceive something exactly the same. Everything, absolutely everything, is relative, subjective according to each person’s individual perceptions. One more thing O’Brien is demonstrating here is that by altering his perception, he can make something seem true. He acknowledges that the story was most likely made up, but he also says how despite that, it gave him a “truth-goose,” meaning it felt as real as the truth to him. Some people may even mistake that for the truth, and that is where we start getting away from the universal, objective truth, and start instead inserting our own truths based off of our individual perceptions. Perhaps some may even be able to deliberately alter their truth by altering their perceptions. The absolute, objective truth, if it even exists, is virtually unattainable.