Since Rat Kiley had a reputation for exaggeration, Mitchell Sanders and Tim O’Brien were skeptical of the “true” story he was about to tell them. The story was about Mark Fossie’s girlfriend, Mary Anne, who at first arrived at Vietnam for their amusement, but then quickly grew obsessed with the elements of the wilderness. When Fossie pressured her to return to the states, Mary Anne decided to leave and escape into the jungles, describing in detail how she changed and wore a necklace made of human tongues. Kiley stopped there abruptly, which irritated Sanders as “it’s against the rules” to finish the story without an ending. Later resuming his tale and satisfying Sander’s curiosity, Kiley reminded him that the ending was not from personal experience but a speculation. In this chapter, the author had two purposes: prove how fiction and truth are often blended together …show more content…
Revealed in previous chapters, O’Brien suggested that only the audience could evaluate the “truth.” Similarly to us readers reading a book or like O’Brien and Sanders listening to Kiley’s tale, the audience must choose whether the emotional altercations would make an impact on the overall impression. Or in other words, trusting the “gut.” I too, was suspicious of Kiley’s credibility and truthfulness. Most of the time, I agreed with Sanders; one cannot simply tell an elaborate story without ending it. However, the author challenged that thought. Using O’Brien as a voice to note Kiley’s style of narration, he explained the addition of detail and emotions that makes the story real, even though it was impossible critically thinking. For example, when Kiley described the necklace of tongues on Mary Anne, he