https://padlet.com/e_middleton1/vibodkgb4j6wmgmm en-us 2020-11-27 11:04:34 UTC 2021-03-11 08:07:29 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.com/e_middleton1/vibodkgb4j6wmgmm/wish/1296872985 While reading it the reader will believe that the events are non fiction only to later discover that the characters that they resonated with, and believed to be genuine people, were figments of the author's creativity. The reader gets immersed in it with the notion that it is non fiction, therefore finding out it is in reality fiction can render the reader skeptical. I believe that O'Brien used these literary techniques so that people and readers do not get caught up within the technicalities of the events and more so focused on the principles behind them, as well as the writing itself. For instance we can see metafiction when the narrator of the story Spin pauses to say that he is now 43 years old and a writer, and that reexperiencing the memories has led to recurring. ]]> 2021-03-11 08:00:12 UTC https://padlet.com/e_middleton1/vibodkgb4j6wmgmm/wish/1296872985 https://padlet.com/e_middleton1/vibodkgb4j6wmgmm/wish/1296873225 O'Brien demonstrates fragmentation by hopping between a wide variety of stories. The fragmented style of the chapters also operates on a second meta-fictive level, carrying the medium-is-the-message ( the way the reader interprets the message) metaphor further. As "O'Brien" describes the Vietnam War combat experience.

]]> 2021-03-11 08:00:18 UTC https://padlet.com/e_middleton1/vibodkgb4j6wmgmm/wish/1296873225 https://padlet.com/e_middleton1/vibodkgb4j6wmgmm/wish/1296873429 O'brien uses the thematisation of a political issue in order to provide a personal and up-close view into a political issue. The Vietnam war was considered and decided upon by the government in Washington, but O'brien provides a view that perhaps we had not seen before. He does this to emotionally engage the audience, and allow for empathy for a demographic that is simultaneously committing war crimes.]]> 2021-03-11 08:00:22 UTC https://padlet.com/e_middleton1/vibodkgb4j6wmgmm/wish/1296873429 1449982 https://padlet.com/e_middleton1/vibodkgb4j6wmgmm/wish/1296873639 O’Brien constructs the chapter ‘Spin’ with fragmentation with the use of anecdotal texts. These fragments were purposefully written to make the character Tim O'brien feel real and as if he him self is actually reminiscing, knowing he uses metafiction.]]> 2021-03-11 08:00:26 UTC https://padlet.com/e_middleton1/vibodkgb4j6wmgmm/wish/1296873639 1451034 https://padlet.com/e_middleton1/vibodkgb4j6wmgmm/wish/1296873686 Verisimilitude is used to make different levels of truth which intrigue the reader by promoting their disbelief or suspension.]]> 2021-03-11 08:00:27 UTC https://padlet.com/e_middleton1/vibodkgb4j6wmgmm/wish/1296873686 https://padlet.com/e_middleton1/vibodkgb4j6wmgmm/wish/1296873943 The author reveals that this novel uses metafiction in one of the epigraphs. O’Brien uses this technique throughout the entire novel through the names of characters, specific events and other imaginary details. However, due to the author’s personal experience, these stories remain believable and not entirely fake in the essence of their nature. “Jimmy Cross never visited me…”. This reveals that although “Jimmy Cross” did not visit O’Brien and the other characters did not exist in reality, these characters did represent real people to O’Brien. 

]]> 2021-03-11 08:00:31 UTC https://padlet.com/e_middleton1/vibodkgb4j6wmgmm/wish/1296873943 1448494 https://padlet.com/e_middleton1/vibodkgb4j6wmgmm/wish/1296874435 Metafiction:
“I feel guilty sometimes. Forty-three years old and I’m still writing war stories. My daughter Kathleen tells me it’s an obsession, that I should write about a little girl who finds a million dollars and spends it all on a Shetland pony” (p. 35). 

This is metafiction as the fact that the narrator, Tim O'Brien,  shares his personal life clearly makes it seem as though the story is non-fictional.
At the end though, the author admits that Kathleen is non-existent. ]]> 2021-03-11 08:00:40 UTC https://padlet.com/e_middleton1/vibodkgb4j6wmgmm/wish/1296874435 1445782 https://padlet.com/e_middleton1/vibodkgb4j6wmgmm/wish/1296874556 Verisimilitude is being used in “The Things They Carried” - He blames his love and fantasies on Martha as he was distracted. In this chapter, his fantasies appear real/true, but of course fantasies are fantasies which leads onto the death of Lavender. 

]]> 2021-03-11 08:00:43 UTC https://padlet.com/e_middleton1/vibodkgb4j6wmgmm/wish/1296874556 1405819 https://padlet.com/e_middleton1/vibodkgb4j6wmgmm/wish/1296874744 Use of metafiction:
Quotation on page 34: “I’m forty three years old and a writer now, as the war has been over for a long while. I sit at this typewriter and stare through my words…” “…as I write about these things, the remembering is turned into a sort of rehappening”
He tells the reader that writing this book is his way of keeping his stories alive. Even though it is fiction, it feels like a message from the author to remind the reader that the experiences are still real and happened to real people.

]]> 2021-03-11 08:00:47 UTC https://padlet.com/e_middleton1/vibodkgb4j6wmgmm/wish/1296874744 https://padlet.com/e_middleton1/vibodkgb4j6wmgmm/wish/1296877610 Although On the rainy rivers events are not real there is a sense of emotional reality behind it which in turn makes it feel as though the events are real (verisimilitude).  "The act of remembering his young, naïve self is like watching an old home movie" this metaphor ]]> 2021-03-11 08:01:51 UTC https://padlet.com/e_middleton1/vibodkgb4j6wmgmm/wish/1296877610 https://padlet.com/e_middleton1/vibodkgb4j6wmgmm/wish/1296878648 Theres an example in which he talks about his daughter on page 34. We later find out he doesn't have a daughter. This could be seen as unfair or leading people on as it makes the story believable but he essentially just makes up all these characters. ]]> 2021-03-11 08:02:12 UTC https://padlet.com/e_middleton1/vibodkgb4j6wmgmm/wish/1296878648 1165417 https://padlet.com/e_middleton1/vibodkgb4j6wmgmm/wish/1296886233 O’Brien uses metafiction in one of the epigraphs by explicitly stating that it is a work of fiction with only a few details regarding the authors own life. By using metafiction, O’Brien explores the relationship between literature and reality. This ]]> 2021-03-11 08:04:53 UTC https://padlet.com/e_middleton1/vibodkgb4j6wmgmm/wish/1296886233