What is the meaning of "Things the way they were"?

Question

This sentence "Things the way they were" is part of the song "I See the Light" which is from the movie Rapunzel.

All those years living in a blur
All that time never truly seeing
Things the way they were

I am not sure how to connect the second sentence and the third sentence. I think 'All that time' is like the subject and 'never truly seeing' is like the verb, so what follows after the verb should be the object. I think there are two possibilities.

1. "Things" and "the way they were" are two objects.
2. "Things" and "the way they were" are the same thing.

Are either of the above two possibilities right?

Answer 1

Your confusion appears to come from the idea that you're seeing "All that time [I was] never truly seeing things the way they were" as two sentences, when in fact it is one sentence. (The "I was" is implied in the sentence.)

A little background: "things" in this sense carries the meaning of a particular reality structure. "How are things?" one might ask, upon meeting someone on the street. "Very well, thanks, and how are things with you?" one might respond.

Now, to "never truly see things the way they were" means to misunderstand one's overall situation at some point in the past.

Perhaps a simplification will help make the idea more clear. This sentence has much the same meaning:

All those years, I never saw things as they were.

Here's a well-known joke Mark Twain used to tell:

When I was fourteen years old, my father was the stupidest man alive. Seven years later, I was amazed at how much the old man had learned.

This is a humorous way of saying that he didn't see things as they were (or the way they were) when he was fourteen.