The Things They Carried: Final

The power of storytelling is very influential but the ability of telling a story that is captivating and true is difficult. There are times when an author bends the truth in order to catch the audience’s attention. In general, the audience does not get captured in the events of the truth but more of the story line. If the plot of the story is boring, then most likely, the audience will get tired of reading, watching, or hearing about the story. Storytelling is like magic. In order to tell a good story, the author must be able to get the audience to believe that it is real. In the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, O’Brien was able to tell story about a real event that occurred but he captured his audience with description that was bending the truth. This is similar to the movie Big Fish directed by Tim Burton. The main characters of each story used their ability of storytelling to capture the audience although their stories are sometimes fiction.

The Things They Carried and Big Fish were both amazingly written stories that not only captured the attention of the audience but also allowed the audience to pounder about the possibilities. Both of these stories start out as being a true story. The Things They Carried is a story about the Vietnam War. This was a very believable story because the Vietnam War actually happened. By using a well known event, especially with an inside to it because he was in a solider in the war, people are more likely to believe what you are saying. O’Brien used actual events that happened in the war to write his story. He used the death of his brothers to enhance the realness of what was going on in Vietnam. Big Fish was similar because it was very relatable in the sense that it could be real, just like the way O’Brien wrote his novel. Big Fish was about the life of a father and his relationship to his son. The father to son relationship is probably one the most important and most personal situations a person can relate to. The authors make them relatable so that someone who isn’t familiar with what is going on can somehow relate to the characters personal experiences.

Some things however were not clear from the beginning. In The Things They Carried you did not actually know that the story was not real until the ending. But even then the story you though it was suppose to be tricked you and became something totally different. Compared to Big Fish the story starts just plainly stating that this is a true story made up of lies. Then it leads into why these lies made the movie so enjoyable. The Things They Carried was more of how lies kept people who passed alive. The main idea was about writing to preserve the memory of a person who passed. Big Fish was more about how memories could help a person live happily. In Big Fish, the character is dying of cancer and the only way for him to really be happy is he is reliving life the way he wanted to and imagined it to be. For example, he makes up the way he met his wife because the way he imagined it made it a story that was both romantic and worth telling. This obviously, captured the attention of the audience and he was able to awe them. In The Things They Carried, O’Brien wrote about his brothers. He wrote about the way they were; the way they acted, what they carried, and how they were important to the gang. His intentions were that he wanted to make sure they were remembered for what they did. Although you find out later that nothing like what he wrote actually happened the exact way he said but it was the memory of the soldiers that mattered and their commitment towards their country.

The way both of these stories were told I believe was meant not for pleasure but for a deeper meaning. In all story telling, there is more then just the climax and the plot. Story telling in both these stories was more about memory. The way a person should write in order to preserve the best and the most enjoyable. Both novels, no matter how bad the situation was, always somehow made it less terrible then it was. In The Things They Carried, O’Brien made all the deaths of his brothers not as bad as it probably was. For example, when Lemon stepped on the grenade, O’Brien wrote it as the lights from above pulled him towards the trees, almost like he was flying and then he just disappeared into the trees. This probably happened but not as graceful as the author made it seem. However, you feel like the way he died was not bad at all because you do not hear about the blood. O’Brien does put in that his body parts were all over the place which brings it back to the reality that this actually did happen and that he died. In Big Fish, when Ed Bloom is talking about the way he met his wife, it seemed all sweet and romantic with all of the flowers and hearts with Sandra’s name in them. But it pulls the audience back to reality when she is already engaged to be married. Then it gets bad because her fiancé beats him up but of course, Bloom promised not to hit him back and so now you have something bad happen but it is still a romantic moment because she breaks up with her fiancé and starts a relationship with Bloom.

In a way, the truth behind the story is not the events of the story but the overall meaning. The final resolution is where the truth is hidden because no matter how good the story is, the truth is that everything still happens in the way that they did. The Things They Carried was more on trying to get across that no matter how long ago a person passed away, their memories are always preserved in writing because each time a person reads it, they are able to revive the characters. Almost as if they are dead and each time they are read they become alive in your minds and then somehow start to live there. Big Fish is explaining, no matter what, as a person, you must live your life happily. It shows that the father is trying to show his son that imagination is wonderful and helps you live life to the fullest extent. He is trying to prove that truth is there but it is still as magnificent even though you fluff it up for your own pleasures. If you believe it long enough it becomes apart of you.

Overall, both The Things They Carried and Big Fish are wonderful titles that use the next level of storytelling. Captivating yet still having that truth behind it. Although the events within the stories are all made up, the real meaning behind it was still as it is.