Truth?

Truth is objective, according to philosophers. However, truth is subjective, according to the individual. This disparity is revealed in Anderson’s I Know the Moon, Gaiman’s Wolves in the Walls, O’Brien’s “How to Tell a True War Story”, and Dickinson’s three poems. In Anderson and O'Brien, both authors suggest that truth depends on the viewpoint of individuals, while in Gaiman and Dickinson, truth is seen as more absolute--in Gaiman as beyond human meddling, and in Dickinson as part of divinity. In other words, there is no consensus on "truth." But I am in general more inclined to agree with the individual approach to truth. The objective truth is irrelevant to life, but absolutely central to thought, and thought depends on the wishes and needs of the individual. Thinking is only relevant where thinking has relevance.

Truth to be told, I liked none of the pieces of literature. They were all very well-written; however, none of them were of my "taste." I never read children's stories when I was a child, so I cannot form any sort of connections with them. Dickinson's poems were too religiously charged for me to accept them, and O'Brien's war story was too forbidding; it spoke of nothing in particular, yet seemed to convey a powerful point that was all to elusive to me.

This assignment was difficult, to say the very least.