How can a person convey the truth in a story about the past? Is it worth seeking the truth when the public knows that this story has been repeated a dozen times and slightly different each time? The author of The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien, would say that the truth lies not in the events recounted, but in the emotions conveyed. The reason why personal stories are told over time is not to convey objective facts of a human being's life, culture, history, etc., but to convey a deeper meaning than chronological events. The question should not be whether this story is true, but rather what the motive behind telling this story is. In TTTC, the point of every story and every reiteration is the psychological need to process the trauma the characters faced in Vietnam. Analysis of O'Brien's latest novel can be centered on the meaning behind the telling of each story. The questions that will be answered in this article are: why do the characters spend so much time searching for truth/morals/meaning in their stories and what is the purpose of them reliving, repeating and changing their stories for the sake of a audiences who may not understand them. It is known that TTTC is a novel of war fiction, so the subjects will be soldiers in and out of combat, as well as real studies used when encountering veterans using coping mechanisms to function during and after the war. The first act of a soldier struggling with post-war life is the chapter "Speaking of Courage," when the character, Norman Bowker, is trying to get over the loss of a fellow soldier while driving through his childhood hometown. “The war was over and there was nowhere in particular to go” (O'Brien 131), “As he approached, a pair of red rockets opened, a soft blur... in the center of the paper... ....O'Brien, Tim. The things they carried. New York: Mariner, 2009. Print. Calloway, Catherine. “‘How to Tell a True War Story’: Metafiction in the Things They Carried.” Criticism 36.4 (1995): 249. MasterFILE Premier. Network. May 4, 2014.Muldoon, Orla T. and Robert D. Lowe. “Social Identity, Groups, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.” Political Psychology 33.2 (2012): 259-273. Premier corporate source. Network. May 4, 2014.Wesley, Marilyn. "Truth and Fiction in Tim O'brien's If I Die in a Combat Zone and the Things They Carried." College Literature 29.2 (2002): 1. Biographical Reference Bank (H.W. Wilson). Network. May 4, 2014. Good friend, Vento. The psychology of Joss Whedon. Dallas: Benbella, 2007. Excerpt.Chambers, John, Ed. The Postwar Impact of Vietnam. The Ox. Ame's companion. Military History, 1999. Web. 4 May 2014. .