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Things They Carried Metafiction Analysis Essay

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Metafiction Analysis

Tim O' Brien's complex analysis throughout The Things They Carried mutes questions yet to be answered. Many believe O' Brien wrote "another war story" or a novel described as a "biomythography". There is an explanation for Tim's writing to be a unique style of metafiction and concentrated on the author and his fictional characters. Metafiction is when the story inspects the components of fiction such as the author questioning naturalism. The powerful structure and techniques provided in the story should have created readers to think outside the box; "It wasn't a war story. It was a love story." (pg. 81) Delineating his experience in Vietnam, O'Brien describes a connection between the art of literature and his memory. …show more content…

However, Tim incorporated a variety of thoughtful analysis about soldier's self-being, their fictional position, and drives the reader to process Tim's philosophy: the blinding light of fiction and fact. The theory of what actually happened and what supposedly happened intervenes with Tim's thought of "A true war story is never moral." Tim's proposal in "How to Tell a True War Story," develops readers to examine simple text and pose questions in order to know the truth. The author admits into constructing fictional stories and characters by acknowledging how he realized "Tim is trying to save Timmy's life with a story," (pg. 233) and the copyright page stating, "This is a work of fiction. Except for a few details." The creation of characters is Tim attempting to rescue his "self-becoming." As Tim experienced war, he mentioned "In war you lose your sense of the definite, hence your sense of truth itself, and therefore it's safe to say that in a true war story nothing is ever absolutely true," (pg.78.) and continues to write, "Forty-three years old and the war occurred half a lifetime ago,"(pg. 36) implying he didn't communicate for a cure, but to redefine himself from his

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