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Tim O Brien Quotes And Analysis

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When Tim O’Brien writes “story-truth is sometime truer than the happening truth”, he is trying to claim that the nature of truth is that it never fully gets across or captures the whole entire experience from an individual’s perspectives of what happened in reality. Even the truth can seem to broad, posing as a lie because it does not give the full coverage of a certain situation that it should have. Hence, putting forth certain emotions which instantly pour out strengthens the overall mood of the story, making it seem more alive. In fact, Tim O’Brien lies about killing a man and admits that himself in the chapters of the novel. The passage which best substantiates my claims is “The Man I Killed.” He describes the man’s state such as his jaw being in his throat, the …show more content…

Additionally, he allows us to step into his shoes by expressing his guilt. To exemplify, he states: “He was not a fighter. His health was poor, his body small and frail. He liked books. He wanted someday to be a teacher of mathematics.” He is trying to make us understand that he has killed a harmless person, who somewhat resembles himself because he honestly didn’t want to fight either, being afraid but even more, embarrassed to let down his community and family members. You can only predict what a person might be like if you have seen them in reality, it is not easy to make up a character instantly. Hence, Tim O’Brien’s lie actually seems like the truth because it is described too well, nothing is left out from who he killed, why he killed him, and how he feels. Relating to this, Kiowa explains that if Tim O’Brien didn’t kill him someone else was going to anyway, sooner or later and states: “‘All right, let me ask a question..You want to trade places with him? Turn it all upside down—you want

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