What matters?

O'Brien has developed a curious way of delivering his work, which I find intoxicating. He, just like myself, seems scatter-brained and self contradictory. He is trying to tell a story, so it seems, but he keeps pausing and stopping and correcting himself. He even tells us later on some of his stories were not completely true.

"Almost everything else is made up." (O'Brien 171). I still have to reread every sentence in that chapter. Because in truth, it makes sense. But it goes against everything I have ever learned about... to be honest I do not even know. Life? Story telling? Or having others believe what you tell them? O'Brien has shown us this world of heart break and torment, and then told us its partly true, but not completely. It feels like someone pulling a rug out from under one of foot, but leaving the other standing. Do you fall down, or do you stay standing up? But O'Brien does present a valid point: "Absolute occurrence is irrelevant." (O'Brien 80). The story is all that matters. It does NOT matter who the story happened to, or all the fine little details. All that truly matters is what is presented to the reader.