Tuesday, April 22, 2008
"Notes"
In "Notes," Tim O'Brien says, "You start sometimes with an incident that truly happened, like the night in the **** field, and you carry it forward by inventing incidents that did not in fact occur but that nonetheless help to clarify and explain it." What does this tell you about O'Brien's understanding of the way fiction relates to real life?
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20 comments:
Obrein is tryingb to express that when you try to tell a story from war you change thing so that you dont put yourself at falt. when Belton commited sucided it seemed that he blamed him self for what had happened to kaiwa. The letter express that he wanted the story to be told.
Mandy
Fiction can definately relate to real life. Just because something may be fictional, it does not mean that it cannot happen in the real world.
In the story, O'Brien was actually the person to not save Kiowa in the **** field. He made it look as if it was Norman Bowker, when in fact that was not the true story. What O'Brien told us was fictional, but still relates to real life because, at the same time, it did happen (Kiowa's death).
Brad C.
The statement that O'Brien makes about fact and fiction explains a lot. He is saying that even though somethings are not real they can help you to explain how things happen. This tells me that O'Brien relates things kinda of back to the way war stories happen. Just like when you tell a war story you make up parts to help it go along. That is just like what happens when telling other stories in life. Even though somethings might not be true they help people to understand what you mean and how to deal with things.
Brittani
The quote stated tells me that O'Brien's understanding of the way fiction relates to real life is that fictional events in a story can help get the real point of the story across easier. The fictional events could serve as sort of an explanation of why real events happened. The need for fictional events sometimes is neccessary in order to make it easier for the reader because if the facts are just stated they can be interpreted in many different ways.
Really all that he is saying is that the things that never happened helps him tell the story so that the people that he is telling it to will comprehend it better. It also helps him cope with things that happened in Vietnam such as Kiawas death.
Cory C.
I think that Tim O'Brien feels when intertwine fiction and reality it gives the story more the substance. It makes it more interesting and you get a better understanding of the characters and thier emotions even though it might not be completly accurate.
Amanda
Fiction sometimes definently tell a story about real life occurences. O'Brien can us symbolism to explain the war, Kiowa's death, or even life bac at home. Also it may help people to understand the story better and what O'Brien went through.
--Tim
In my understanding I think that Tim O' Brien is trying to help the reader fully understand the various incidents by adding events that did not actually happen. I think O brien is doing that so that the reader can see vividly how each event occured.
Chelsea Pinkerman
I think that O'Brien is saying that you can put emphasis on that story if you add a little fiction to the story. It helps clarify the real story and also makes the story better. If you put fiction in the story then the story sounds more appealing to the reader/listener.
Tyler
Fiction relates to real life because you can use it to escape and express yourself without really stating bluntly who you are what you need to escape from. It's a way to hide behind a facade but still have that release that humans need from time to time.
-Ariel :)
He is trying to say that when people try to tell war stories, they ad somethings to help make the situation easier for the person to understand what is going on. They wna tto keep the truth in the story but also try to stretch it a little bit for understanding.
Jared B.
This is very similier to how Rat tells his stories. He startes it off as a true story but adds a few things and some more just so the person he is talking to can picture it as clearly as he can.
Jessica
This shows that O'Brien feels as if fiction is that it is just a stretched version of a real-life occurance. Because of the invented incidents, it makes the work of fiction more interesting and easier to comprehend, thus showing that real life is dull, and complicated.
Im not really sure that I undrestand what he means by this but i took it as he is saying that like when something serious and tramatic happens in a war you cant always just explain it with the whole and complete truth. Sometimes to get the feelings and emotions across you have to go in to details and make some up and also leave some out so that a civilian will still understand the feelings and emotions that the soldier had when it happened.
-Malori
He's saying that throughout life you use thins that have nothing to do with the initial story but you use those examples to add more dept and meaning into the that he is trying to tell.
-chris austin
Basically i think that O'Brien is trying to say that the more fictional it may seem, the better it is understood to the reader. However, why does something have to be fictional to get to the true meaning.
Chris Booth
Sometimes fiction relays feelings much better than actual fact. Sometimes the frustration of how a person dies is so great that actual fact doesn't do justice to how one feels. O'Brien openly tells you that his most of his stories are juiced up, so it isn't like he openly lying to us. He lies to us to get the point across.
Matt G
I think that O'Brien is trying to say that Fiction helps real life stories because it makes them seem more real of as real a life can seem. it helps define and classify the story it helps to give a better understanding of it even if its not true.
As time goes by things change, I think that they dont like being in those conditions anymore.
Kat
A war story no matter how true of fake it may be added to the reality of what happened in this war. all the crazy random stories about things that might not have ever happened add to the effect of the war because its not what happened its all about what people think happened.
Steven W Pollard
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