Midterm paper

Power — the aptitude of abstract power that a human mind possesses is immensely powerful. All that is available to the extraordinary mind is the acceptance, denial or the invention/ re-invention of events. The only difference that really lies between fiction and reality is that one chooses which one to believe. Hence, even fiction can be one’s reality, capable of emerging genuine and powerful emotions that make the human body a puppet of the mind (in a good/bad way). Tim O’brien’s novel The Things They carried and Chuck Palahnuik’s novel Fight Club, both display different and varied realities within them to deliver justice to the inner most emotions of nihilism and satisfaction simultaneously (one being the consequence of the other). In both novels reality is altered to please and comfort the heart, to live again, to feel again.

Focusing merely on the chapter Good Form from The Things They carried, it is evident that the truth or the true reality of the happenings is ambiguous. By this I mean that Tim O’Brien does not reveal the true happening of the events in the war. This could be partly because it is fiction, partly because he wants to create mystery, partly because it is too difficult to talk about it or perhaps it is partly because he does not know everything and he wants to know. Knowing things can be the trigger that can shoots out emotions in a person. Hence, he is left emotionless and faceless as he does not know everything. In either of these cases the most vital factor that Tim O’brian consequently displays is the three abilities of the human mind to alter reality, which then alters the emotions of the human body as a consequence. He shows the ability of the human mind to reinvent things, deny things as well as silently accept it. In the chapter Good Form, Tim gives us three scenarios of the same war. One serves to be a complete new invention as he makes it evident saying “even that story is made up”. The second serves to be the happening truth (perhaps the real truth), and the third serves to be the story- truth (perhaps alteration of the truth or partial truth). Which of these is actually the real story is unknown and whether there is in fact a true story is also unknown.

Assuming that the happening-truth is the real one, it is seen that the happening-truth is rather bland in comparison to the story-truth. Tim O’brien describes his experience as a “faceless responsibility and faceless grief” propelling the idea of his emotions having no meaning to it or being rather dull. As a result of this, it is difficult for someone else who wasn’t present in the war, to experience the same thing as his description of the war is rather general and abstract. The notion of nihilism or meaninglessness thus stands out as primary to this chapter and other chapters in the book as the author as he is unable to attach faces to the stories or make them more meaningful. Thus he reinvents the story to generate some meaning — meaning that can satisfy the audience as well as himself and thereby make him feel again.

The story-truth is seen to be much more detailed and descriptive, displaying concrete evidence of the happenings. The story truth has a face to the dead man and has a meticulous description of his face that is easily imaginable by the audience (“His jaw was in his throat. His one eye was shut, the other was a star shaped hole”). Although this story may not be the truth of the happening, it is much truer and relevant to the audience as the details are much more narrowed and concrete. Tim O’brien alters the story to a give face to the faceless happening of the happening-truth. He says “I can look at things I have never looked at. I can attach faces to grief and love and pity and god. . . I can make myself feel again”

Altering stories changes emotions regardless of what is true and what is not. In just a chapter that is as short as two pages, Tim O’brien manages to shows us three different realties of the man he may or may not have killed. Why show us many scenarios of the same thing though? Why alter the truth? The answer is simple as I mentioned above. The notions of dissatisfaction and meaninglessness with life lead one to alter or change things. The comparison between the two scenarios inevitably displays both: his feelings of nihilism which makes him alter stories to provide inner satisfaction to himself. His dissatisfaction is seen in the happening- truth on the assumption that it is the true happening, and his satisfaction is revealed in the story-truth simply by the minor differences in both stories and the changes in detail. One serves to take on a macro perspective whereas the other is more detailed, more relative and hence more emotional. He looks for satisfaction by altering realities, by making them present, by reconnecting with his life. That in turns shows the extravagant power of the mind to alter the truth to such an extent that it can become ones true reality. The power of belief is therefore explicitly evident. His alteration is also rather constructive in a way that it does not damage himself or his surroundings; it simply provides a meaning to his experience and shares the depth of his feelings as he accepts the past. The alteration makes him feel again and live again and thus satisfies him.

A similar agenda is presented in the novel Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuck, where the protagonist shows a constant dissatisfaction with his routine life and thus is compelled to alter it and fight it in the manner he knows best. Focusing simply on the first chapter, the reader is able to view the protagonist’s dissatisfaction with life. “You do the little job that your trained to do. Pull a lever. Push a button. You don’t understand any of it then you just die” — shows the protagonist’s idea of human beings equated to machinery that performs its job until it runs out. A sense of meaninglessness, a futile routine and a monotonous cycle of life is displayed showing the character’s pessimism towards the future. He feels empty and victimized by the norms of society; the routine that every individual follows without objection propels his dissatisfaction. He is thus victimized within the realms of his own thoughts and seeks a forceful way out from the system in order to start from the beginning. He seeks satisfaction for his soul and seeks meaning to his nihilist life by creating a new world. As Chuck Palahniuk shows us, “the first step to eternal life is that you have to die” — his new world would begin with the world of destruction first.

The protagonist’s idea of pessimism and satisfaction are circular and concrete. By this I mean that to understand the notion of satisfaction one would first need to understand dissatisfaction and what propels it in order to satisfy it. In the novel Fight club, the protagonist serves to be his own satisfaction and dissatisfaction simultaneously, by being two characters at once — putting forward a circular motion. Tyler serves to be his imaginative satisfaction that heals his dissatisfaction with the real world. The satisfaction delivered by Tyler is real and concrete that possesses the power of destruction (It is not just satisfaction by imagination as we encountered in the things they carried.) as there is a physical being executing physical missions. The futile and monotonous routine, accompanied with major insomnia, obscures the real view of normality in life and makes the protagonist a victim of his own thoughts that his body becomes a puppet of both entities, executing concrete changes to the world like project Mayhem. A three way triangle is also emphasized in the saying, “we have sort of a triangle thing going on here. I want Tyler, Tyler wants Marla, Marla wants me”, which can be seen not merely in terms of love but in terms of deficit and fulfillment, discontent and gratification — a yin yang principle where one completes the other.

In both stories the notion of the truth is obscure — meaning that the real true happening of the war in The Things They Carried and the real truth in the existence of both personalities in Fight club is ambiguous and can be debatable. This is because, as mentioned earlier, truth does not serve a purpose and can be altered on different magnitudes to an extent that it can evolve into something psychotic as seen in fight club. The altered truth then becomes ones true reality to comfort the heart — to provide satisfaction.

That is the power of the mind. If one believes in things long enough, they begin to happen and they become one’s true reality. This subsequently displays the minute value of the real truth as it does not matter. What matter more than the truth is the notion of satisfaction. A basic human need that we are all attracted to and we all need for survival is satisfaction. It is core component of the human character that propels us to alter the reality. It is the core component that makes reality relative to individuals as different aspects of life satisfy us differently, depending on our needs and wants. We are attracted to satisfaction, and this inevitable shows us that the truth is worthless. It is satisfaction and dissatisfaction that complete each other within us that maintains our equilibrium state of mind. When one exceeds the other, the human body is forced to change or alter things to keep us happy and calm. The principle of yin yang is a great part of the human character, and both of the novels mentioned about serves as the evidence that have displayed an imbalanced state of mind.