This was an Independent Study project for my honors program at Ocean County College in NJ.
It's a short story which I took out of my life.
I hope you enjoy it
Introduction
Tim O�Brien wrote a novel entitled, The Things They Carried, which depicts a fictional story of true aspects of his own experiences in the Vietnam War. The structure of his novel consists of episodic stories, which has interconnecting setting, time, mood, and tone. His main theme throughout the book is �story truth is more important than happening truth� because his fictional story seems nonfiction. O�Brien�s novel has written not to purposely fool the reader into believing that he was writing an autobiographical memoir; instead O�Brien�s main idea was to recreate emotional responses he experienced as a youth in a war he didn�t believe in. His stories seem real, but everything that he is telling to the reader was a fabrication � except the feelings of fear, confusion, pain, burden, and a detachment from the world around him. O�Brien�s novel becomes a psychological exploration into the experiences he had at Vietnam.
O�Brien also concentrated on the environmental details of Vietnam in order to establish an atmosphere and mood to each of the stories. Vietnam is a lonely, isolated, and cold place full of ambiguities, which the soldiers cannot properly deal with. It is an unknown territory, a place that no one wants to be in, and a country that does not belong to him or her. It is war, so tensions are running high; and the rain and constant humidity makes the characters edgy. Having to go through the terrain, having to be careful of guerrilla tactics, and so much more makes Vietnam more than just the country � the war makes the whole world look so completely different than what one had known before in it�s peaceful times.
�Can�t Escape Family� is a short story which was written around many of the same themes and techniques O�Brien used for his novel. This short story�s episodic plot places emphasis on the protagonist�s, named Stacy, and her memories. There are triggers in the present tense which throw off Stacy�s mind set and explores boundaries which other characters in the story would never have access to. When the tenses in the story change over to past, a completely different story is told that provides the reader with background information and gives an understanding of the high intensity of emotions. Once the memory is completed or if Stacy is distracted from her train of thought by something more important in her present time, the story�s tenses change back over to the present. What is interesting to note, is towards the end of the story, a future tense is explored. Events that have yet to take place also affect the complete entity that is �Can�t Escape Family�.
Tim O�Brien�s �story truth is more true that happening truth� is a theme �Can�t Escape Family� explores. Instead of the actual events of the story, the emotional ties drawn to it are a major concentration. Feelings of fear, confusion, innocence, regret, isolation, abandonment and a cold, uncompassionate atmosphere affects every character in their own ways. Some characters are numb and merely coax through the story, like Richard and Scott. Other characters are overwhelmed by the high intensity of emotions, like Charlotte and Stacy. Through Stacy, I personally as the author can transpose some of the feelings I felt in experiences in my life and, therefore, have the reader interpret these feelings. In this way, the reader can become sympathetic and truly grasp the mission of the story � that no matter what a person does, they will always be attached to their family. The idea of isolation, the idea that a child would be dispensed from their homes and lose their sense of comfort and security, is a fear that many people can empathize with.
A burden on Stacy and her twin sister, Michelle is another point for which The Things They Carried and �Can�t Escape Family� is connected. Stacy and Michelle are carrying a burden of emotions, a baggage that hangs over them through out the story. For Stacy, her memories are the burden of her mind that reminds her of why she is in the present state. For every other character, including Michelle, the burden of carrying the twin�s belongings is a constant reminder of the problems within the family that have yet to be followed through. Physical attributes of the home, uncluttered and not clean, is an environmental state that also plays a role in burdening the minds of the characters with thoughts of negativity. Cigarette smoke stained walls and cluttered furniture is a physical representation of the dissociation of Charolette�s mind, the owner of the house, and the twin�s minds, who were displaced amongst a group of people they, in their minds, still associate themselves with.
Suddenly the whole world to Stacy and Michelle is different. Suddenly, they are taken out of their comfortable environment and forced into a world that they do not wish to belong to.
There are times in people�s lives that they are forced into a situation that they do not wish to deal with. Through writing this short story, I was able to portray to the readers my feelings from an experience in my life that I will never be able to forget. �Can�t Escape Family� is my story because I have written specifically to get my emotions out and onto a physical attribute of my environment. In writing my story, I hoped that the reader would best understand the concepts of O�Brien�s ideas, as well as learn a moral lesson; �Honor thy mother and father� and respect those who care about you. It is difficult to live in a world where dysfunction is a common, everyday event. Stacy seems to have lived that life, and I can only relate to her anguish. Hopefully, as the reader, they will be able to empathize and understand that not everyone has a perfect family. Yet, no matter what, that group of people, for the rest of your life, will undeniably be the only family we will ever know.
