{"id":5197,"date":"2019-12-10T08:40:17","date_gmt":"2019-12-10T12:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=5197"},"modified":"2022-03-17T15:19:01","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T19:19:01","slug":"truth-in-fiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Truth in Fiction: Why Stories Are Often Truer Than Facts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Is there truth in fiction? How do we identify the truth of fiction? In what ways is fiction actually truer <\/em>than nonfiction?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’ll look at Tim O’Brien’s treatment of the theme of truth in fiction in his classic The Things They Carried<\/em> to see how in war depictions, what’s true may not be best<\/a> represented by a series of facts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Truth in Fiction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Things They Carried <\/em>is a collection of interconnected short stories about the experiences of a company of young American men serving in the Vietnam War. The book blurs the line between fiction and autobiography, truth and fiction.<\/strong> It is told mainly from the first-person perspective of a middle-aged writer named Tim O\u2019Brien, who is looking back on his time during the war. Tim O\u2019Brien, however, is also the name of the actual author of The Things They Carried<\/em>\u2014it is unclear if the main character (and narrator) of the book is meant to be the same person as the author (who is also a Vietnam veteran). 
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The blending of fact and fiction is further developed as O\u2019Brien tells us throughout the book that many of the tales we have read are not literally <\/em>true<\/strong>. Rather, they are stories whose embellishments and fantastical qualities convey to the reader the full scale of the horror and emotional trauma of war. Because they produce what he deems to be the appropriate emotional reaction in the reader\u2014one of shock, revulsion, and even disbelief\u2014O\u2019Brien deems this collection of stories<\/a> to be truer than actual truth. They bring the experience of Vietnam<\/a> to life in a way that a straight retelling of the facts never could.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Story-Truth Versus Happening-Truth<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A frequent theme throughout the book is how telling fictionalized narrative stories brings true experiences alive. O\u2019Brien discusses the difference between happening-truth and story-truth<\/a>. Happening-truth is just the literal recounting of events that happened, while story-truth is imbued with fictional or exaggerated elements. Story-truth, however, is more real, because its sensationalized features more fully convey to the reader the emotional power of what happened. Stories can be truer than truth<\/strong>, and there’s truth in fiction.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Brien experiments with this theme throughout the book, by relating emotionally traumatic episodes to us (like his killing of a young Vietnamese soldier), only to reveal to us later in the narrative that they did not actually happen the way he told us. Nevertheless, the stories are \u201ctrue\u201d because they convey to us what it felt like for O\u2019Brien to be in these situations in a way that the literal truth (or happening-truth) never could. 
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He notes that true war stories aren\u2019t parables\u2014they\u2019re not meant to instruct, impart morals, serve as examples of good conduct, generalize, or engage in abstraction. What makes the story true is the reaction it produces, not the content itself.<\/strong> Thus, something may happen and still be a complete lie, while another thing may be pure fiction and yet truer than the actual truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Truth of Fiction<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Looking back after Vietnam, O\u2019Brien ponders what makes a \u201ctrue\u201d war story<\/strong>. He notes that true war stories aren\u2019t parables\u2014they\u2019re not meant to instruct, impart morals, or serve as examples of good conduct. True war stories also don\u2019t generalize or engage in abstraction. Even adages like \u201cwar is hell\u201d are unbelievable to O\u2019Brien because they lack the gut-punch sensation and raw disgust that such a story is meant to provoke. What makes the story true is the reaction it produces, not the content itself.<\/strong> Thus, something may happen and still be a complete lie, while another thing may be pure fiction and yet truer than the actual truth. This is truth in fiction.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

True war stories instead convey the emotional weight of the war experience. As such, obscenity and cruelty are central elements of this kind of storytelling because war <\/strong>is <\/em><\/strong>an obscene, vile, and dehumanizing experience.<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s an example of truth in fiction. <\/em>He recalls a story Rat Kiley<\/a> told him. Rat had served with a man named Curt Lemon<\/a> who was known for volunteering for the most dangerous combat assignments, like late-night reconnaissance missions and patrols. Lemon was also celebrated for being a daredevil with what his fellow soldiers saw as a terrific sense of humor. According to Rat, Lemon once went out to a Vietnamese village, nude except for a mask and full body paint, to go \u201ctrick-or-treating,\u201d bewildering the villagers in the process. 
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, Lemon was killed in action when he accidentally stepped on a landmine while he and Rat were goofing off by tossing smoke grenades back and forth. The men even had to retrieve Lemon\u2019s mangled remains out of a tree, during which Dave Jensen<\/a> sang the song \u201cLemon Tree,\u201d laughing<\/a> in the face of death once again. Rat tells O\u2019Brien that he wrote a letter to Lemon\u2019s sister, telling her how much he loved her brother. When he didn\u2019t hear back from the sister, Rat was dismayed, then angered. In the coarse and brutalized language which the men have adopted, he tells O\u2019Brien that \u201cthe dumb cooze\u201d never wrote back.<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Brien notes that the coarseness of Rat\u2019s language is what makes the story true, because it reflects the harshness of Vietnam. It is important that Rat says the vulgar \u201ccooze,\u201d and not \u201cwoman,\u201d \u201cgirl,\u201d or even \u201cbitch.\u201d He also observes that it is nearly impossible to arrive at literal truth in the fog of war<\/strong>. Memory is unreliable<\/a> (especially after time) and every witness remembers things differently. Often, the wildest elements of the story are true and the most banal aspects are false. This is why there’s often more truth in fiction than in facts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflections<\/strong> on Truth in Fiction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

O\u2019Brien now reveals to us that much of the narrative we have been following is invented<\/strong>. He did not<\/em>, for example, actually kill the young North Vietnamese soldier with the grenade. But he did <\/em>witness the young man\u2019s death, and for O\u2019Brien, his presence, his witnessing, has been enough to trigger a lifetime of guilt and trauma.<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He reminds us that the narrative that makes up a story is often more true than a literal recounting of the events that actually <\/em>transpired. He defines this as story-truth vs. happening-truth.<\/strong> He notes that the story-truth (like the biography of the young Vietnamese soldier and how O\u2019Brien lobbed the grenade at him as he passed by) brings the emotions of the war into the present in a way that happening-truth never could. He might as well<\/em> have killed the young man, because that is how he\u2019s experienced the event for all these years\u2014this is why he chooses to tell the story this way. This is truth in fiction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is there truth in fiction? How do we identify the truth of fiction? In what ways is fiction actually truer than nonfiction? We’ll look at Tim O’Brien’s treatment of the theme of truth in fiction in his classic The Things They Carried to see how in war depictions, what’s true may not be best represented by a series of facts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,24],"tags":[63],"class_list":["post-5197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-society","tag-things-they-carried","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nTruth in Fiction: Why Stories Are Often Truer Than Facts - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Is there truth in fiction? Learn from Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried how, in war especially, fiction is often truer than facts.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Truth in Fiction: Why Stories Are Often Truer Than Facts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Is there truth in fiction? Learn from Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried how, in war especially, fiction is often truer than facts.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-12-10T12:40:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-17T19:19:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/things-carried-truth.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"775\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"516\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amanda Penn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amanda Penn\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Amanda Penn\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/01b0e4c9ddb993e51d03808839d538b0\"},\"headline\":\"Truth in Fiction: Why Stories Are Often Truer Than Facts\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-10T12:40:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-17T19:19:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/\"},\"wordCount\":1158,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/things-carried-truth.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The Things They Carried\"],\"articleSection\":[\"History\",\"Society\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/\",\"name\":\"Truth in Fiction: Why Stories Are Often Truer Than Facts - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/things-carried-truth.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-10T12:40:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-03-17T19:19:01+00:00\",\"description\":\"Is there truth in fiction? Learn from Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried how, in war especially, fiction is often truer than facts.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/things-carried-truth.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/things-carried-truth.jpg\",\"width\":775,\"height\":516},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Truth in Fiction: Why Stories Are Often Truer Than Facts\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World's Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/01b0e4c9ddb993e51d03808839d538b0\",\"name\":\"Amanda Penn\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/64793342-83f4ea00-d540-11e9-9bfc-cb9ecaf5e55d.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/64793342-83f4ea00-d540-11e9-9bfc-cb9ecaf5e55d.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Amanda Penn\"},\"description\":\"Amanda Penn is a writer and reading specialist. She\u2019s published dozens of articles and book reviews spanning a wide range of topics, including health, relationships, psychology, science, and much more. Amanda was a Fulbright Scholar and has taught in schools in the US and South Africa. Amanda received her Master's Degree in Education from the University of Pennsylvania.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/amanda\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Truth in Fiction: Why Stories Are Often Truer Than Facts - Shortform Books","description":"Is there truth in fiction? Learn from Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried how, in war especially, fiction is often truer than facts.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Truth in Fiction: Why Stories Are Often Truer Than Facts","og_description":"Is there truth in fiction? Learn from Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried how, in war especially, fiction is often truer than facts.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2019-12-10T12:40:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-03-17T19:19:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":775,"height":516,"url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/things-carried-truth.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amanda Penn","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amanda Penn","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/"},"author":{"name":"Amanda Penn","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/01b0e4c9ddb993e51d03808839d538b0"},"headline":"Truth in Fiction: Why Stories Are Often Truer Than Facts","datePublished":"2019-12-10T12:40:17+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-17T19:19:01+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/"},"wordCount":1158,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/things-carried-truth.jpg","keywords":["The Things They Carried"],"articleSection":["History","Society"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/","name":"Truth in Fiction: Why Stories Are Often Truer Than Facts - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/things-carried-truth.jpg","datePublished":"2019-12-10T12:40:17+00:00","dateModified":"2022-03-17T19:19:01+00:00","description":"Is there truth in fiction? Learn from Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried how, in war especially, fiction is often truer than facts.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/things-carried-truth.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/things-carried-truth.jpg","width":775,"height":516},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/truth-in-fiction\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Truth in Fiction: Why Stories Are Often Truer Than Facts"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World's Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/01b0e4c9ddb993e51d03808839d538b0","name":"Amanda Penn","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/64793342-83f4ea00-d540-11e9-9bfc-cb9ecaf5e55d.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/64793342-83f4ea00-d540-11e9-9bfc-cb9ecaf5e55d.jpg","caption":"Amanda Penn"},"description":"Amanda Penn is a writer and reading specialist. She\u2019s published dozens of articles and book reviews spanning a wide range of topics, including health, relationships, psychology, science, and much more. Amanda was a Fulbright Scholar and has taught in schools in the US and South Africa. Amanda received her Master's Degree in Education from the University of Pennsylvania.","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/amanda\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/things-carried-truth.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5197"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5296,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5197\/revisions\/5296"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}