Tim O'Brien: father of story-truth

I read The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien four years ago and have considered O'Brien to be my favorite author ever since. The way he skillfully delivers his messages to readers through the use of what he calls "story-truths" was something I had never read or even heard of before. By writing a story based on true events but adding some exaggeration and a touch of fabrication, O'Brien has the ability to convey thoughts, experiences, and emotions in ways that enable readers to not only understand the depth of such feelings but literally feel the same emotions themselves.

One excerpt from the ninth chapter of The Things They Carried, that truly moved and inspired me, reads:

"You just don't know," she said. "You hide in this little fortress, behind wire and sandbags, and you don't know what it's all about. Sometimes I want to eat this place. Vietnam. I want to swallow the whole country—the dirt, the death—I just want to eat it and have it there inside me. That's how I feel. It's like...this appetite. I get scared sometimes—lots of times—but it's not bad. You know? I feel close to myself. When I'm out there at night, I feel close to my own body, I can feel my blood moving, my skin and my fingernails, everything, it's like I'm full of electricity and I'm glowing in the dark—I'm on fire almost—I'm burning away into nothing—But it doesn't matter because I know exactly who I am. You can't feel like that anywhere else."

I have somewhat of a difficult time articulating how this passage effects me, but all I know is that I feel the message O'Brien is trying to convey through the character. It's about authentic realization, self-actualization, being in complete sync with yourself and everything around you, just being and experiencing absolute truth. This book, and this excerpt in particular, was the first time I felt overwhelmingly inspired by a piece of literature and it truly changed my life.

Once I finished reading The Things They Carried and closed the book, I had an overwhelming desire to express everything about myself through words. I began writing—really writing—about everything: myself, my feelings, my thoughts, nature, people, my perspectives, the perspectives of others in contrast and comparison with my own, etc.

I also went to the Danbury Public Library and borrowed another book by O'Brien entitled In The Lake of the Woods. In a way I was nervous that perhaps The Things They Carried was O'Brien's "one-hit-wonder," but I could not have been more wrong. The storyline of In The Lake of the Woods revolved around the Vietnam War, just as The Things They Carried had, but instead of taking place during the war, the story was about the the aftereffects of the war on a man, his wife, and others around him and it was just as stimulating and moving as The Things They Carried.

Tim O'Brien has a gift that I am honored to have been able to experience and encourage others to see and feel for themselves. O'Brien is one of few people that I truly admire and the literary gift that he has is the reason why he is my favorite author.

Works Cited

O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. Broadway Books, 1998. Print.