The Things They Carried has proven to be one confusing story. Although we may comprehend what is happening and who it is happening to throughout the story, we are left in complete darkness when it comes to whether or not these stories actually happened. Tim O'Brien has completely blurred the line between fantasy and reality and has left it up to the reader to choose which stories are true. With that, it is time to consider the stories in, "How to Tell a True War Story," "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong," and "In the Field" to figure out which is the most "true."
Before I can get into my opinion, I must make clear the differences between something that is true and real as I understand them. Even though we have most likely used these words interchangeably our entire lives, O'Brien has introduced to us the idea that these are different concepts. Something that is real is something that actually and factually happened; reality is not subjective and must have either happened or not happened. Alternatively, the truth is something that must be believed and is completely subjective to an individual. O'Brien shares these ideas with the reader mostly in the chapter, "How to Tell a True War Story," where he presents us with many thought-provoking lines such as, "Somebody tells a story, let's say, and afterward you ask, 'Is it true?' and if the answer matters, you've got your answer." This quote and many others O'Brien presented contribute to the idea that the truth varies from person to person and that something must have an impact and resonate with you for it to be true.
Now with that out the way, I'll begin with what I believe to be the least true story, "Sweetheart of Song Tra Bong." This story is about Eddie Diamond's girlfriend, Marry Anne, tagging along with Rat Kiley and the other soldiers while stationed in the mountains of Chu Lai, near the Song Tra Bong River. The story tells us about how Marry Anne was an awfully fast learner and picked up on the culture and lifestyle of the others soldiers rather quickly. She learned so fast, in fact, that she completely exceeded any of the other soldiers' behaviors and became a barbaric monster. One of the last times Mary Anne is described, it is said that "At the girl's throat was a necklace of human tongues," which shows just how extreme she had become. Besides the heartbreak that Eddie Diamond had experienced, I had an extremely difficult time resonating with this story and the characters in it. Sure it emphasized the corrupting effects of war on once innocent people, but the entire story seemed so far-fetched that it was hard for me to feel much while reading it. It is because I had such a minuscule connection with this story that I say it is the least true.
The next story that I believe rings a bit truer is in, "In the Field." In this story, Jimmy Cross and the others from the platoon search through a vast field of sewage and mud for the body of the recently killed Kiowa. I believe this story is truer than the previous one because I was able to sympathize more with the characters and the situation. The fact that these soldiers had to wade through sewage to find the remains of their once dear friend is already terrible enough to think about, but the impacts this had on the soldiers makes this story even more powerful. Jimmy Cross takes the death the hardest; since he was in charge of the others and was the reason they were stationed in the field, he feels a direct responsibility for Kiowa's death. He feels so responsible that he spends most of his time, "composing a letter in his head to the kid's father..." I truly felt sorry for Kiowa for having such a humiliating and unnecessary death and for the effects it had on the others searching for him.
The final story that I think is the truest is from, "How to Tell a True War Story." This is the story of Curt Lemon's death, in which he is brutally blown up by a 105 round. Part of why I believe this story is the truest comes from the details within it. We are presented with grotesque descriptions of Lemon's remains such as, "the white bone of an arm" and "pieces of skin and something yellow that must've been the intestines." Details like these help you create a mental image of the scenario and feel worse about the situation—the abler you are to picture yourself in the scenario, the truer it becomes. What makes me connect with this story, even more, is when Rat Kiley proceeds to slowly torture a baby buffalo to death by shooting it in non-lethal places. We are told the exact order of where Rat Kiley shot the buffalo, what it looked like, and even the noises that were made. But it wasn't the death of the buffalo that made me understand this scenario, it was the sheer heartbreak that Rat Kiley felt that drove him to carry out this act. Honestly, when I read this part, I feel more for Rat Kiley than I do the buffalo, but that isn't much of a surprise if you read my last blog. (Yeah, go ahead and call PETA, I don't care.)
Don't get me wrong, I am in no way saying that any of these stories definitively happened, I am saying what I believe to be
true due to the emotions they made me feel. You may not agree with what I deem true but you don't have to, it is all subjective and comes from your ability to sympathize with a scenario and those in it. These stories all invoked at least some emotion in me, it just came to what created the most that lead me to my final decisions.
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