The truth is
The Things They Carried is a thoroughly gripping book with a raw honesty that is absolutely haunting. Aside from the Bible, no book has affected me so deeply. I was not there in the jungles of Vietnam. I was not even alive when the fighting occurred. There are only a few people I know who fought in those far away jungles and rarely do they speak of it. Then I met Tim O'Brien. I met him walking through the jungle, pondering Canada, visiting his boyhood home, and remembering his dreams. He told me the truth about Vietnam. He told me the truth but he took twists and turns in his story. He leapt backward and seemed to be going nowhere, but that is just when he would hit me hard and fast with his point. I wondered why he was telling me like this, and then I realized that is was t
He made sure I knew, that in war, "There is no clarity. The truth, the nature of his memory will now be one of the things that I carry. That is what Tim O'Brien and the men of his company carried out of Vietnam. They'll never forget the surreal images that make up their memories of Vietnam. Instead he asked me to understand the men. I could sense that he did not want me to say that I understood; he knew I didn't. I knew that was impossible; I hadn't seen it, done it, tasted it. They carried pictures, love letters, steel helmets, and M-16's. He just wanted me to listen and hear him remember the truth. Mere words could take me to the jungle, but it was the dizzying truth that would make me feel the heat and confusion. Sometimes I forgive myself, other times I don't.
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Acceptance Essays
