Adaptation Leads to the Truth
When telling a story, more often or not, the truth is what counts. If it is revealed that a story is not real, many would be disappointed. The emphasis on reality and truth are both key ideas in Annie Dillard's, "The Wreck of Time" and Tim O'Brien's, "How to Tell a True War Story." Dillard writes with a vigor, she outlines many different statistics and does a lot of number analyzing, in order to convey her idea. Dillard does not write to entertain, she writes to awaken readers to thoughts and ideas they previously ignored. O'Brien takes a different approach to convey his idea, he writes of war stories. In order for O'Brien to convey his idea his stories describe times of war with different tones; some somber, some joyful. These two authors who have very different writing styles share a common idea when analyzed closely. Dillard and O'Brien attempt to prove to the audience that when presented with a story or scenario, due to a human's ignorance and inability to understand what they are not directly apart of, the truth and reality are often misconstrued.
Humans are natural "know it alls." This means that when two people have conflicting ideas they will of course try to sway the other individual to see their side and to join their side of the argument. Due to a human's increasing self-interest and self-preservation if something does not effect them positively or negatively, he/she simply will not care. It is only when the individual will be effected by the outcome will they take the time to listen and understand. Throughout Dillard's essay the reader is introduced to many statistics of large depletions in the population all around the world. These numbers, despite being the truth, have no lasting effect on many. This is due to the idea that the individual has no true connection to the society in which they are apart of. Dillard writes, "On April 30,1991 - on that one day - 138,000 people drowned in Bangladesh. At dinner I mentioned to my daughter, who was then seven years old, that is was hard to imagine 138,000 people drowning. 'No it's easy,' she said. 'Lots and lots of dots, in the blue water,'" (Dillard 169). Due to a human's natural tendency of self-interest, the willingness to understand and sympathize is forgone. Dillard makes a point of addressing the fact that age does not matter, may you be old or young, you will still ignore the masses. The natural tendency of self interest affects all, it is a trait that nearly all humans posses. Dillard herself admitted she could not imagine the 138,000 people drowning, meaning she was not able to feel any true connection since it did not affect her in anyway. The same could be said for the daughter because despite her active imagination, she is able talk about the 138,000 deceased with no concern. Just like her daughter, Dillard is unable to connect to the numbers because they truly have no meaning to anyone who is not affected by the deaths. O'Brien attempts a different approach to bring to light the idea that an individual will feel no lasting affect of a true story as long as it has no relation to themselves. He does this by telling a soldier's story of a time he/she experienced while at war. He addresses the idea that there are some things a soldier will go through that due to a lack of experience many will not perceive as being true simply because they did not experience it first hand. There are two types of news reports. There are ones that hit the presses because society will understand the view of the writer and will possibly be affected by what is said. Then there are the other stories that never make it to the press because many will be unable to comprehend the truth. Many stories from a wartime can not be related to an average person because they really are, that crazy. O'Brien admits, "Often the crazy stuff is true and the normal stuff isn't, because the normal stuff is necessary to make you believe the truly incredible craziness," (O'Brien 442). Those who go over seas to fight are still normal citizens like you and I, but what sets them apart is the experiences they come back with that not many can fathom. Due to the inability to understand, many of these stories must be filled with fictional superfluous ideas that take away from the integrity of the story.
Not many in today's society will serve their country, and therefore many people in today's society can not relate to those experiences of a soldier. In a government, such as Israel's, where everyone is mandated to serve in their military for a minimum of two years, this problem would not exist. Due to an individuals inability to draw an emotional connection to those who possibly live a doorstep away, but lack a common background, the truth gets overlooked. In order for one to properly understand a story from a wartime, one must have his/her own story, his/her own experiences. The events of a war story you can properly grasp and understand has a high chance of being fictional. These facts are strategically put into the story in order for the you, the civilian, to understand. With the exception of Israel, and possibly a few other countries, the rest of the population in the world will not be affected by the truth of any war story because the truth can not be grasped by the average citizen. The inability for humans to relate often leads to an inaccurate perception of the truth. In order to get society as a whole or even individuals to listen and understand the truth, one must give them what they want to hear. More often or not, what they want to hear is not the truth.
May it be at the work place or at home, when an individual becomes emotionally attached to the people they interact with and the daily activities they do is when a connection is built. If someone is not emotionally involved in a scenario that individual will feel nothing no matter what the circumstances, simply because it does not concern them. By means of statistics and numbers Dillard makes the point that people will only respond to a personal account of how an event or experience affects them emotionally. A statistic affects an individual when it becomes important to that individual. When a statistic is discussed in regards to the collective, it will have no effect. However, if numbers are broken down to the local level then there will be an emotional out cry. When a relative passes, it becomes a tragedy in the family followed by days of mourning. The grief is felt throughout a rather small group of people on average ranging no more than a hundred being affected. The death of a single person is the starting point of a statistic in the making. What many do not realize is that statistics are being formed and brought about every second of our lives. Due to a lot of statistics being number crunching and playing out different scenarios many people dub this numbers unimportant. For instance, something that is overlooked during this time is that every second a person is dying somewhere in the world. Thousands of individuals have passed away in an hour of your life. It is not that these facts are hard to believe, it is more so the idea that they are hard to comprehend the magnitude of the seriousness. Dillard quotes the cold hearted dictator, Joseph Stalin, when she writes, "A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic," (Dillard 170). This universal sentiment sheds light on the way in which humans ignore the many deaths in their society and stray away from the truth when they decide that it is not important. This is why Dillard quotes that a single death is a tragedy, conveying that individuals only care about themselves. The emotions drawn from a death only arise when one is effected directly. Only when a story is written on a personal level does it become important to an individual. O'Brien takes a similar approach to convey the idea that people tend to respond more greatly to personal stories, whether they are true or not. O'Brien puts an emphasis on his idea that a true war story is meant to appeal to one's emotions. The purpose behind any "good" war story is to hit home with the listener/reader and to draw an emotional connection that they can relate to.
A true war story is never about war. It's about sunlight. It's about the special way that dawn spreads out on a river when you know you must cross the river and march into the mountains and do things you are afraid to do. It's about love and memory. It's about sorrow. It's about sisters who never write back and people who never listen (O'Brien 450).
Many, if not all, individuals have experienced rejection once before in their lives. For this reason, many people in today's society can relate to the anguish that comes with the feeling brought about by the disapproval of another. O'Brien's appeal to emotions is clear in many aspects of his work, the sister who never wrote back is a prime example. The soldier who wrote a letter, filled with his condolences, to a fallen comrades' sister explaining his connection with her brother received no reply. The reason in which O'Brien tells the story of the soldier who received no letter in return is to draw fourth any possible emotional connections. The connection O'Brien seeks is that of rejection, something so simple that no matter where you are you can experience it.
As evinced by the facts and ideas presented Annie Dillard and Tim O'Brien belabor the idea that particular natural human tendencies interfere with the perception of truth. Truth in any situation can only be brought to light when one can get past their own ignorance of self-interest and when one can feel an emotional connection to the scenario and or experience. In parallel, the brash statistics from Dillard and the emotionally appealing stories of O'Brien successfully convey the thought that an individual's grasp of reality depends on his/her own personal beliefs and the way in which that individual views the society in which he/she lives in. Without the ability to understand, nothing would seem true to anyone. Truth and reality are in direct correlation to the level in which one can comprehend. It is the power human's posses that allows society to flourish, the power to learn and adapt.
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