The Things They Carried: Not True

"In war you lose you sense of the definite, hence your sense of the truth itself, and therefore its safe to say that in a true war story nothing is ever absolutely true." -pg. 78

O'Brien reinforces this statement throughout the book. He speak of how the truth doesn't hold much weight because it's the essence of the story that truly matters. Many veterans hesitate at telling their war stories because they are an essential part of who they have become, a very private glimpse into a chapter of their lives. Others find that telling their story is therapeutic, a way to rid their body of its horrors. Sadly enough, every generation has its tales, and so we remember them as such, and not as part of our being. But either way, the after taste of the story stays with us. We just assume that the storyteller told the truth, but it doesn't matter because they went to war and they saw more than we ever will.