For Wolves in the Walls, the truth is only known by an innocent child. When trying to explain, she's ignored, her point being viewed as a ridiculous idea from a mere child.
In “How to Tell a True War Story,” the truth is only known to the soldier. If the soldier went and told a war story, the listener would end up being concerned only to its validity- which, to the soldier, did not matter; the story is real whether or not it happened.
Dickinson’s three poems describe Truth in itself. The first, about how it must be told: in moderation. The second, how it is unfailingly strong. The third, how timeless and enduring it is.
The three (I missed one of the children's books) have their own spin on Truth, but compare in the way that they view it is up to the interpreting to know Truth itself. They also recognize the power of Truth- how it may be voiced as a warning from a child, a memory from a weakened soldier, or exist in a stronger form on Earth than what is tangible-, and how it takes a patient listener to recognize Truth.
I liked O'Brien's "How to Tell a True War Story," most, maybe because I know the rest of the book as well. While reading it in my English class, some of my classmates were very hung up on what was real or not. However through discussion and prompting from the teacher, we arrived at the conclusion that why should it matter?
What's written is written, what's read is read; what O'Brien writes are memories from his head.
Whether or not the stories actually occurred is irrelevant. They could have happened, and that is the only truth needed for something to exist- the mere existence of possibility and someone believing it is true.
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Nice Finding Nemo reference ya got there. I agree with all your evaluations and everything. I only disagree with your pick of "War Story" as your favorite. I think the poems are the best because they tell you what truth really is in so few words. The lady clearly had a gift. Like, duh.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed O'Brien's, 'How To Tell A True War Story' the most, too. I liked how you said as we discussed more and more in class, the reality of O'Brien's excerpt was that 'why should the truth matter?' I also liked your little saying. But what is true truly depends upon who is perceiving the idea, fact or in O'Brien's case, his memory. Everything he said was true to him, in that the possibility of any minor defect in his story was incredibly possible.
ReplyDeleteI liked what you said about the power of truth..
ReplyDelete"They also recognize the power of Truth- how it may be voiced as a warning from a child, a memory from a weakened soldier, or exist in a stronger form on Earth than what is tangible.."
I agree with this. We spent a lot of time in class trying to understand what truth is, and yet the whole time we never really realized its power. When someone believes something to be true, it is concrete for them, and therefore a very powerful force in their mind.
"the truth is only known by an innocent child"-i agree with this. I think that since truth is skewed by whoever is looking for it, children also have a different perspective. I also mentioned in my blog that the 'innocent child' will have a completely different view than, for example, their parents. I think this is a result of society and the environment in which we live. People look at everything with a bias, whether aware of it or not, and it effects everything-including truth.
ReplyDeleteoh and i TOTALLY dig the title.
I agree with most of you said, with the exception of the part at the end about whether the story existed being irregardless. I believe that if you create a fabrication that even though somebody may except it as true, it can never be a truth. Because how can a lie be a truth? Its a direct contradiction to the definition of truth. On one hand if you elaborate to get a point or theme of a story across that is true, it can be true in that sense. But the actual details can not be true. With that being said like everybody else, I love the title.
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