Manipulating the truth...

I actually wanted to go back to what we discussed in class and the issue that was brought up as far as the validity of the book. The example the teacher gave was about this author who wrote a memoir and it the book being endorsed by Oprah. She then found out that the book was not completely true and I guess you can say she bashed the author for what he did or whatever. I think that as a writer, you don’t really have to say the truth. You can write whatever you want and manipulate words to convey a truth. I think that as long as it serves as something positive then it shouldn’t matter. In The Things They Carried, he was giving an example as to why they have to lie sometimes. It might emphasize a point more or just make it seem more credible. In his situation, he wanted us to feel the way he did when he encountered the guy who died, which he didn’t kill. He said he killed him and gave this story that was false, but he did this so we can get a better understanding of the feelings he felt. I guess he felt that , that was the only way of conveying it. I don’t have a problem with that…and I think what Oprah did was wrong! Haha…but that’s off topic…