Monday, December 10, 2018

Whose version/point of view of Kiowa’s death is most true?

In Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, there are several versions of the story in which Kiowa dies. Each version is different, but the various perspectives of this incident are connected by the fact that the teller feels a deep sense of responsibility for Kiowa's death. In order to determine which version of this incident is most accurate, it is necessary to return to a chapter much earlier in the book. In the chapter "How to Tell a True War Story," O'Brien clarifies for the reader that the truth of what happened in an event is muddied, unclear, and essentially unimportant, stating,

In any war story, but especially a true one, it's difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen. What seems to happen becomes its own happening and has to be told that way. The angles of vision are skewed.

O'Brien is explaining that what each soldier believes happened, whether it is factually accurate or not, is the truth they feel they must share. If O'Brien's explanation is to be believed, then there is no version of Kiowa's death that is more accurate than another. Each soldier recalls the horrific event in a way that is most accurate to them and shares his truth. While each version differs, each teller believes that his story, the details that he recalls, and the guilt that he feels, is too real not to be the most accurate version of what happened the night that Kiowa dies.

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