Davidson and Lytle conclude that " The historical 'reality' presented by dramatic films is radically different from that of a letter or diary, or even from a secondary account like The Jungle". (403) In other words, first hand documents such as letter or diary often give the most accurate information about particular events. Second handed documents such as books and films are most likely to give false information because this kind of information usually include personal emotions and point of view. Tim O'brien's stories about Vietnam War is more likely to be consider as mythical according to Davidson and Lytle's conclusion.
Even though that Tim himself was a soldier in Vietnam War that experienced the truth behind the war, but the story which he writes is not 100% accurate. This is because he put too much his own emotions into the story and sometimes, he even make up his own stories in order to make the it more interesting. Quotes such "I remember his face, which......I was present" ( Tim O'brien 203) and "I want you to feel what I felt.... happening-truth." (Tim O'brien 203) evidenced that the story "The things they carried" is not all about truth but the author's emotion too. According to Tim, that when reader falls into the emotional words in an article, he/she will consider this story as a truth whatever it is really truth or not. Tim thinks that the truth can not be written, truth is what the reader feels about it. When a reader feels the same way as the author does, than it is a truth.
1 comment:
I agree with what you say that when the reader feels how the author felt, then it is the truth. The truth is what the author is trying to convey in his writings. The historical accuracy doesn't really matter, rather the message the reader takes away is what is important. In my opinion Tim O'Brian does a great job demonstrating this idea.
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