At first glance, Sylvia Plath‘s “Daddy” and Tim O’Brien’s “How to Tell a True War Story” may seem to share nothing in common. In “Daddy,” Sylvia Plath reveals about her complex relationship with her father, while Tim O’Brien’s “How to Tell a True War Story” focuses on issues of war and the art of storytelling. But in many ways, a confessional poem is similar to a war story. It may be true that confessional poetry mainly focuses on strictly mental and personal aspects of individual experience and, hence, is entirely subjective, while war stories may seem more objective because they describe physical events. Thus, this seemingly makes the truths of war stories truer. However, O’Brien states that “In any war story, but especially a true one, it’s …show more content…
After the death of Curt Lemon, Rat writes a letter to Lemon’s sister about how great her brother was to him. He tells her about her brother “going out on these really badass night patrols”, having “stainless steel balls”, and going “fishing with a whole damn crate of hand grenades” along with all the gore that this ensued (174). Rat “pours his heart out” into this letter, but Curt’s sister never replies back (175). To Rat, these were the truths that made Curt Lemon a great man; however, to Lemon’s sister, these were not what made her brother great. In fact, for her, these stories were not true stories about her brother because the man Rat was describing was a stranger to …show more content…
When he was blown up into that tree, there were body parts “just hanging there” including the “white bone of an arm” along with what must have been intestines (182). This paints a dark and gory picture, however O’Brien says “what wakes me up twenty years later is Norman Bowker singing “Lemon Tree” as we threw down the parts” (182). Similarly, the topics and metaphors in “Daddy” are dark as well. But what makes the poem so potent is how the subject is delivered. Plath speaks in a tone similar to a nursery rhyme. For such a dark topic, she speaks of it very playfully which paradoxically makes the poem even more sick and twisted. For example, “Daddy” features childish nonsensical words such as “gobbledygoo” (42). And although it follows no set rhyme scheme, it is filled with internal and end rhyme along with loads of alliteration. But perhaps the most unsettling part, is that Plath chooses to call him daddy and not father or
To write a true war story that causes the readers to feel the way the author felt during the war, one must utilize happening-truth as well as story-truth. The chapter “Good Form” begins with Tim O’Brien telling the audience that he’s forty-three years old, and he was once a soldier in the Vietnam War. He continues by informing the readers that everything else within The Things They Carried is made up, but immediately after this declaration he tells the readers that even that statement is false. As the chapter continues O’Brien further describes the difference between happening-truth and story-truth and why he chooses to utilize story-truth throughout the novel. He utilizes logical, ethical, and emotional appeals throughout the novel to demonstrate the importance of each type of truth. By focusing on the use of emotional appeals, O’Brien highlights the differences between story-truth and happening-truth and how story-truth can be more important and truer than the happening-truth.
Many times readers lose interest in stories that they feel are not authentic. In addition, readers feel that fictitious novels and stories are for children and lack depth. Tim O’ Brien maintains that keeping readers of fiction entertained is a most daunting task, “The problem with unsuccessful stories is usually simple: they are boring, a consequence of the failure of imagination- to vividly imagine and to vividly render extraordinary human events, or sequences of events, is the hard-lifting, heavy-duty, day-by-day, unending labor of a fiction writer” (Tim O’ Brien 623). Tim O’ Brien’s “How to Tell a True War Story” examines the correlation between the real experiences of war and the art of storytelling. In O’Brien’s attempt to bridge the gap between fiction and non-fiction the narrator of the story uses language and acts of violence that may be offensive to some. However some readers agree that Tim O" Brien's "How to Tell a True War Story" would lack authenticity and power without the use of crude language and violence.
An interesting combination of recalled events and editorial commentary, the story is not set up like a traditional short story. One of the most interesting, and perhaps troubling, aspects of the construction of “How to Tell a True War Story” is O’Brien’s choice to create a fictional, first-person narrator who might just as well be the author himself. Because “How to Tell a True War Story” is told from a first-person perspective and O’Brien is an actual Vietnam veteran, a certain authenticity to this story is added. He, as the “expert” of war leads the reader through the story. Since O’Brien has experienced the actual war from a soldier’s point of view, he should be able to present the truth about war...
In one of the most influential pieces of postmodern literature, Tim O’Brien in The Things They Carried introduces us to a war fact/fiction writing where two of these themes intermingle into each other to such degree that nothing remains clear in the end but the emotional communication that attempts to convey the horrors of the Vietnam War. This writing style has distinguished Tim O’Brien from many other authors that wrote in the same genre and conveyed their respective style. In The Things They carried, the treatment of the Vietnam War is very precise, in the meaning of the nature of the war itself. It is a collection of short stories that contain near-fictional characters accounting their experiences in the Vietnam War. This near-fiction becomes troubling for the readers of Tim O’Brien. The readers listen to the author telling them stories about his experiences about the war differently, on many occasions through interviews, real life and then the narratives in The Things They Carried which also adds to the ambiguity of the prime narrative of the author that is near-fiction or near-fact. Tobey C. Herzog analyzes this prime narrative in his paper “Tim O’Brien “True Lies”” and presents us with eight hypothesis that may explain the behavior of the author and his prime narrative of story-truths. This paper will attempt to analyze one of the eight hypothesis and try to judge its worth for explaining the prime narrative of “True Lies” that are relevant in the life and works of Tim O’Brien.
O’Brien, Tim. How to Tell a True War Story. Literature and Ourselves. Sixth Edition. Eds.
Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried has readers and critics alike scratching their heads with wonder about the meaning of “story-truth” and “happening-truth.” Although, he served in the Vietnam War from 1968 until 1970, he fabricates the events of the war throughout The Things They Carried. At the same time, he insists that the truth lies at the heart of the emotion in the story, an idea that many readers question. Furthermore, it is pointless for the reader to attempt to sort through the stories and differentiate between the “story-truth” and “happening-truth,” because it is nearly impossible. This tactic is one of O’Brien’s more ingenious writing methods. He does not want the reader to know the difference between the two because in his opinion that fact is irrelevant. O’Brien obviously thinks outside the box and has everyone questioning reality. However, this fact is truly ironic, because the point is not to care what type of “truth” it is, but to instead feel the raw beauty of the emotion and to accept it as the truth. While trying to define “story-truth” and “happening-truth,” a couple chapters in particular focus on the idea of truth, “How to Tell a True War Story,” “The Man I Killed” and “Good Form.” O’Brien believes that the most important thing for a reader is to experience the emotion of the story, be it “story-truth” or “happening-truth,” as long as the real emotion is conveyed and understood by the reader, then it is as true as it could possibly be.
The difficult association between the occurrence of war and storytelling is told through the eyes of Tim O’Brien; he explains that a true war story has a supreme adherence to offensiveness that provides a sense of pride and courage commonly found in storytelling. “The thing about a story is that you dream it as you tell it, hoping that others might then dream along with you, and in this way memory and im...
Several stories into the novel, in the section, “How to tell a true war story”, O’Brien begins to warn readers of the lies and exaggerations that may occur when veterans tell war stories.
In his assessment of storytelling, O’Brien highlights the challenges of telling stories by including many tales that take place after the Vietnam War. For example, back in America, the soldier’s of Vietnam found
In “How to Tell a True War Story” by Tim O’Brien, Orwell’s ideas are questioned and the competition between the truth and the underlying meaning of a story is discussed. O’Brien’s story depicts that the truth isn’t always a simple concept; and that not every piece of literature or story told can follow Orwell’s list of rules (Orwell 285). The story is told through an unnamed narrator as he re-encounters memories from his past as a soldier in the Vietnam War. With his recollection of past encounters, the narrator also offers us segments of didactic explanation about what a “true war story” is and the power it has on the human body (O’Brien 65). O’Brien uses fictional literature and the narration of past experiences to raise a question; to what extent should the lack of precision, under all circumstances, be allowed? In reality, no story is ever really truthful, and even if it is, we have no proof of it. The reader never feels secure in what they are being told. The reliability of the source, the author, and the narrator are always being questioned, but the importance of a story isn’t about the truth or the accuracy in which it is told, but about the “sunlight” it carries (O’Brien 81).
... war, but: “Tim trying to save Timmy’s life with a story.” (O’Brien 233). The stories by the veterans of war, struggle with their own mental illnesses in their stories of fiction. Both stories are about their reflection of the war they served in.
At the young age of eight Sylvia’s father had died due to complications from his diabetes. Her relationship with her father wasn’t the normal father daughter bond. Sylvia was scared of her father as he was a very strict and stern man. He had very high standards for Sylvia which she found hard to reach. After her father had died there was some heartbreak and sadness felt but there wasn’t enough heartbreak for it to bypass all of the selfishness her father had. After his death Sylvia had wrote a poem called “Daddy” where you can see the hatred she had felt “There's a stake in your fat black heart And the villagers never liked you. They are dancing and stamping on you. They always knew it was you. Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I'm through.” (www.poets.org, 2014). although there was mostly hatred you can also see how even though they had a bad relationship she still misses him “Bit my pretty red heart in two. I was ten when they buried you. At twenty I tried to die And get back, back, back to you. I thought even the bones would do.” (www.poets.org, 2014). Along with writing a poem about her dad Sylvia had also wrote many other poems, her first poem was even published in the Boston Herald’s ch...
The figurative language in the poem “Daddy” by Sylvia Plath can be used to discover a deeper significant of the poem. By using figurative language throughout the poem such as symbolism, imagery, and wordplay, Plath reveals hidden messages about her relationship with her father. Plath uses symbols of Nazis, vampires, size, and communication to help reveal a message about her dad.
October 27, 1932 is the exact date that the one and only Sylvia Plath was born on. She was born in Boston, Massachusetts. She kept a journal of her poetic work that she started at an early age. As she grew older and wiser, she worked at Mademoiselle magazine as a guest editor while she was attending college. She found her self in a rough obstacle during that time and tried to take her life by overdosing on sleeping pills. After getting the proper treatment at a mental health facility, she went back to school to finish her degree in 1955. “Plath herself had suffered a serious breakdown and attempted suicide between her junior and senior years in college”(Baym). She met Ted Hughes, who she married in 1956, at Cambridge University in England.
Sylvia Plath, an American poet, confessional writer, an intelligent, though emotional sufferer of depression, and ultimately, a bipolar suicidal, is more famous and recognized in death, than ever in life. Her death brought new and deeper meaning to her poetry, which provided an extremely profound and emotional insight into Plath’s innermost feelings and thoughts. Plath used her poetry to explore and to figure out her own life, but she was ever-haunted by the death of her father when she was 8, and by her husband, Ted Hughes, who both caused her a high degree of emotional distress. It is this, though, this resulted in the powerful, intense, and sensitive poems, which have allowed, or even encouraged Plath to release her inner-most self, and hence, to free herself from the oppression and the metaphorical cage that the memory of her father had trapped her in. “Daddy”, one of Plath’s most famous poems, and “Ariel”, the title poem of Plath’s second book of poetry, are two important stepping stones on Plath’s path to freedom.