Each chapter usually has a moral, idea, or opinion behind it, while still managing to maintain its role as a piece of the larger picture. The main perspective that delivers the idea of the chapter is told either by a character in the book that plays a major role or by the narrator. O’Brien states several times that his novel contains a blend of fiction and reality. He mentions that sometimes even he does not know what is true or not, referring to this as “metafiction”. O’Brien believes that the reader is only capable of understanding war to a certain extent and that no one can understand war fully, not even the people that were or are still there.
Natalie Gosmeyer Eng 1020 MWF 2-6-13 Evans Theme Paper: How to Tell a True War Story People try to understand the world through perception of experiences that they encounter. These encounters include either living through the experience firsthand, or the experience being conveyed by another person. Our perception weeds out main ideas from those experiences deeming them realistic and if so labels them truths. However, our perception of the obtained truth from those experiences is not always credible because as a recipient we are restricted to the amount of experience we can retain. Meaning the perceptions of the labeled truths is a result of our translation of incomplete experiences into new perception resulting from what he or she could retain from the original experience.
He points out that it is just a part of the job: “But we’re never really alone when we are rejected; it’s the other side of being a writer, the side that isn’t shared as much as our successes.” He uses factual quotes taken from rejection letters (utilizing the epistolary genre) that published authors have received. Sylvia Plath’s writing was rejected by an editor who said, “There certainly isn’t enough genuine talent for us to take notice.” These quotes could also place the essay in the form of an expository essay because they impart information. On the other hand, his use of memory in the following lines is symbolic of a memoir: “When I read such negative responses, I always think: What if the writer had just given up?” and his mother’s advice: “Don’t compare yourself with anyone else … unless it’s to make yourself feel better.” These lines quoted from memory place the essay in the fiction genre because memory is flawed. His thoughts or his mother’s words may not have been thought or said in those exact words because memory is flawed and can never be 100 percent accurate. It is also a fiction essay because it has points where the author interjects his own thoughts and feeling in brackets: (Ah Mum, she always knew what to say!)
It’s not like writing about teenage romance or mystical monsters, where the author must portray great streams of emotion, or create conjured up images of ghoulish beasts seen only in our nightmares. Then again, reality can sometimes be a nightmare in and of itself; as O’Brien points out, “In any war story, but especially a true one, it’s difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen.” (Meyer 320) It’s just about the facts, right? Is the truth so boring that people feel it must be “spun” in order to make it interesting enough to read? While telling any type of true story most certainly requires a certain degree of guile, grace and discretion, a war story must be doubly so. Perhaps this is why Tim O’Brien prefers writing “fiction” and seldom writes “true” war stories.
It's still hard for me to have a clear mind thinking on it. But it's the truth even if it didn't happen” (p.8). The quote shows the real beginning in the book by Chief Bromden, and illustrates slightly how Bromden acts, feels and thinks. Bromden lives in his own thoughts and feelings and does not share them with the other patients. Life with talking would be probably too stressful for him.
Human beings write history and no matter who they are they cannot be fully objective. Trained historians try and bring as much objectivity as they can into their work but nobody can remove all amounts of bias from his or her work. (270) - How does Henry Kissinger define history? What is Howard Zinn’s approach to history, and how does his differ from the description of Kissinger’s type? Be Specific!
O'Brien creates an intentional paradox for his readers when he writes the violent, but grabbing story of Rat Kiley and then at the end of the story, tells the reader that the characters and events of the story did not happen just as he described them, but that they happened in a totally different way to other people. But he insists that the story is true. With this, O'Brien challenges the reader to discover the truth of the event. O'Brien gets the reader to figure out what fiction of this book is actually worth. Firstly, did O'Brien confuse the reader when he said that the events did not happen after the reader became involved in those events?
Compare and contrast ways in which your three chosen writers create a sense of voice, and the effects they achieve through their use of voice ‘None of these characters […] tells the full story’ ,this statement from Bennett’s introduction to Talking Heads can also be applied to ‘The Pardoner’s Tale’ and ‘The Remains of The Day’; in all three, the use of the first person means that the tale is often centralised around the views and perspectives of the narrator. It is often left to the reader or audience to interpret the information which the narrators have either consciously or unconsciously omitted. The term ‘teller’, in fact, is ambiguous; it could be said that the fictional narrator of the tale is the teller. However it could also be argued
They start to call me and ask if I want to do something with them. I constantly have to make up excuses and lie about why I can’t instead of just telling them the truth. Its better to tell the truth most the time but in some cases its better to tell a lie, which is explained in the article, “When You Shouldn’t Tell It Like It Is”, by Deborah Tannen. There are three different ways of lying stated by Tannen which are direct, indirect, and the type of language a person uses. Direct lying is seldom used people use this method because they think, “the only purpose of language is to convey information that should be stated outright”(Tannen 1).
Many readers have different interpretations while reading It Calls You Back, written by Luis Rodriguez; it is often said the narrative has a weak structure, detracting from the work, due to Rodriguez’s word choice and writing structure. Luis Rodriguez often chooses to use the dialogue from the different cultures he has been a part of throughout his lifetime, helping to not only define who he is as person, but as a writer as well. Many critics of the narrative however, fail to pay close attention to the internal characteristics of the text itself, and often look for external evidence to explain the work, thus being an example of new criticism. One of the main differences between Rodriguez’s memoir versus others is the lack of education Rodriguez was able to receive. Although he did attend Cal State La, he was never able to graduate, due to being imprisoned.