The Things They Carryed In-Class Essay RewriteThe Things They Carryed by Tim O'Brien appears as a typical novel dedicated to O'Brien's time in the army. This causes readers to assume that the entire novel is based on past experience rather than created as a work of fiction. Therefore, whatever O'Brien writes is treated as fact by the reader and is not disputed until another passage appears to describe something different with further embellished details. Quote number 2 discusses how both passages can be true even though they may present seemingly contradictory accounts. O'Brien incorporates this sense of "storytelling" into his novel through the death of Curt Lemon, the death of Kiowa, and the chapter The Man I Killed to blur the lines between what appears to happen and what actually happens. The first sense of narrative can be seen in the context of quote 2 during Curt Lemon's death. O'Brien first introduces Lemon's death as an almost sacred event: "...the way the sunlight enveloped him and lifted him and sucked him into a tree full of moss and vines and white flowers" (O'Brien pg. 67) . Despite the impossibility of anyone dying by being lifted into the air, the narrator still believes his perception of how Lemon dies. The way the narrator perceives Lemon's death allows “what seemed to happen to become its own event” (O'Brien pg. 67). When Lemon floated into the treetops, what seemed to happen became the truth and became the story itself. A description of how Lemon died was enough to tell the story of his death rather than an actual explanation of how he died. The harsh truth about how Lemon actually died is revealed later when: "[he and Dave Jensen] were ordered to pull themselves up and peel it off... bits of skin and... half the paper... what it must have looked like. man if he were alive. The “factual” account of this narrative describes the circumstances the narrator finds himself in when he kills the man. In The Man I Killed, O'Brien does not introduce two perspectives that tell two different stories. This short story, along with his story, laments the fact that the narrator committed murder without even thinking twice. Therefore, O'Brien uses narrative elements to humanize, rather than dehumanize, their enemies in Vietnam. In summary, O'Brien uses narration during Lemon's death to contrast reality and perception, Kiowa's death to make the reader empathize with Bowker, and the death of an enemy to demonstrate how the Viet Cong are also human. While not explicitly telling the truth, O'Brien conveys more than just experiences by telling stories. It conveys emotions and truths “as they seem” through the telling of stories.