Flexibility of the Truth Essay -- Literary Analysis, Tim OBrien

Story-truth is sometimes truer than happening-truth. (171) When most people read this quote in Tim OBriens The Things They Carried, they think story truth is emotional truth spell happening truth bear ons to the facts and reality. But beneath the surface we see that the truth is never genuinely told. No matter how you tell a story the actual truth will never be revealed. The actual truth is for our own sense of self.Throughout the story The Lives of the Dead, OBrien recalls his history with Linda, his first love. Linda wore a new red capvery unusual. (217) OBrien has no idea what is going on with Linda at this point in time, but the cap is intelligibly hiding the truth. It is not until later, when Nick Veenhof sneakily lifted off the cap that Lindas head is revealed with a smooth, pale, translucent white. (222) The whiteness of Lindas head seems to be in reference to a blank slate the purity of Linda, but more so the truth. If OBrien wrote that her head was tan or didnt even refer to the nature of the color of her head, then we wouldnt have read closely into this passage.But if you continue reading, we come across this there was a large Band-Aid at the plunk for of her head (222) which can be interpreted as covering up the remaining truth. From this moment on, we can assume that Linda has some sort of fatal ailment and it is confirmed later in the chapter. But what we dont know is how she got it, when she got it, why she got it (genetic or just random), or more importantly, what she is thinking throughout this process. This Band-Aid covers up the remaining answers we have from this point on about Linda. And since she does not speak because Timmy and Linda have a pure knowing (218) of each other, ... ...rite about Linda to rid his storage of the horridness that she went through the day her cap was removed and the visual truth came out.The truth is glorified and considered moral, but if we know that someone will not derive the truth (which h appens in most cases), then we tend to bend it. But how flexible is the truth? The expression of stretching the truth is very relevant in Tim OBriens case. In The Things They Carried, he knows the truth about his characters and his stories, but he stretches the truth continuously throughout his novel and especially with Linda in his dreams. He is not trying to deceive us. He is actually trying to do the opposite and try to get us to understand the truth, not so practically know the truth. Understanding the truth is not overrated, it is just not fit for words or even expressions. The truth is not for anyone, but yourself.