In any story, there are the actual events that occur and things that are placed in a story to fill in missing parts of the narrative. In the book, The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien uses a narrative type called "story truth," in which the events and the details are fictional (179). In using these story truths O'Brien, "want[s] you to feel what [he] felt," and he feels that sometimes the story truth is truer than the actual events in the story (179). O'Brien effectively uses these "story truths," to create situations in which the reader can see progressive events and situations and then identify with the characters reactions to those events.
             "His jaw was in his throat, his upper lip and teeth were, gone, his one eye was shut, his other eye was a star-shaped hole, his eyebrows were thin and arched like a woman's, his nose undamaged, there was a slight tear at the lobe of on ear (124)."This opening paragraph in the chapter, "The Man I Killed," makes the reader envision the boy's body lying broken, rotting in the jungle. It invokes a reaction I you cannot really describe, but I feel for O'Brien after seeing this horrible tragedy. He tries to justify the actions that lead to the boy's death, but he even knew that it would happen. O'Brien [even] creates the boy's history to accompany this character, which just adds the sadness of the story. "Even as a boy growing up in the village of My Khe, he often worried about this. He imagined covering his head and lying in a deep hole and closing his eyes and not moving until the war was over. He had no stomach for violence (127)." Giving this character fears and a brief history, gives the reader the chance to identify with him, and maybe even find similar qualities in his life. O'Brien's interpretation of the story gives the reader a chance to see the innocence of the boy. By...