The Things They Carried: What's "Real"?
There are instances when imaginary stories are more powerful than those that actually happened. The fictional reality present in O'Brien's The Things They Carried adds more realism to his writing than any amount of actual details every could. Even though the stories recounted in the book didn't physically happen, they still hold as true as any actual war story. Furthermore, many of the characters and experiences found in these stories have been created from composites of real people and places. Essentially, the stories are first-hand accounts of things that never happened. Tim O'Brien uses this fictional world to negate death, to emphasize meaningful events and character traits, and to enrich the stories with feelings as oppose to factual details.
O'Brien often presents the idea that through writing, characters exist eternally for all to see. Curt Lemon, Kiowa, Norman Bowker—every one of O'Brien's fallen comrades is able to live on through his stories; their lives are "saved."......
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