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Communicating Truth In Hemingway's 'Soldiers' Home

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Authors desire to communicate truth in war and in narrative through fiction. Communicating truth through fiction brings a new reality that may not be easily understood by those who lack war experience. Tim O’Brien models “How to tell a true war story” on Hemingway's “Soldiers’ home”. Both authors provide intriguing perspectives on reality through their fiction, particularly in the way the characters express morality, existence, and guilt. This asserts that applying the ontological turn of events and other combat experiences reveals that, those who walk from battlefields have a changed ontological perspective.
O’Brien’s war experience inform the perspective of mortality and guilt. The author has applied his ontological turn of writing and the …show more content…

The long-term effects of social-cultural forces play in war narratives. Hemingway says new times required the development of new techniques. The dissonance between fiction and war was heightened by the mass carnage of World War 1. Hemingway has used modernism and tradition which consciously sought new methods of storytelling as a means of bridging the gap between unintelligible fiction and trauma. War, like writing shapes the perception and creates a completed recognition of contemporary …show more content…

It can be argued that war is grotesque but in the truth war is a beauty. One can’t help but gape at the awful majesty in combat. Rather than attempt to portray a false truth in war, he depicts a composite truth. It is only by embracing the intricacies of truth within the philosophy, language, and content of his writings, which he was able to create more authentic telling of war. Few individuals can claim that O’Brien’s novel details the wartime experiences of a fictional young soldier. Throughout the novel, O’Brien works to demonstrate the fact theta truth is multidimensional and often arbitrary. He was a Vietnam War veteran and many readers incorrectly assume that the novel was his autobiography. He specifically denotes literal truth implying the existence of other types of truth. Reality is often limited by time, bias and memory. Fiction, however, is not so limited. Scenes and characters are created to limit this gap and are sometimes seen to be more than true than

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If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie” (O’Brien 65). O’Brien continues that when hearing a true war story it can be very difficult to separate the truth from the lies of the story, this is simply because the war is so unpredictable and horrendous it has the ability to make some seemingly impossible events a reality. Everything that goes on in a war a true war story will live the listener speechless, despite all the unbelievable events that may have taken place on the battlefield because “you can’t help but gape at the awful majesty of combat” (O’Brien 77). In conclusion, Tim O’Brien states that a true war story will not leave anything out no matter how grotesque the truth may be, also a true war story makes it nearly impossible to distinguish fact from fiction as “war is hell, but that’s not the half of it” (O’Brien 76). The tell-tale sign of a true war story is

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In “How to Tell a True War Story”, the main theme is how to tell whether a war story is true or made-up. The author explores the conflict within reality and fiction by arguing that true war stories are hard to believe. In O’Brien’s view, he points out that “A thing may happen and be a total lie; another thing may not happen and be truer than the truth. ”(p.80). Moreover, to make his point, the author spins between facts and fiction causing difficulty for the readers to believe if those stories actually happened or

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But Tim O’brien flips those ideas upside down using the chapter “How To Tell A True War Story” in The Things They Carried. The reader learns of a young man whose best friend dies in war, and how he writes a letter to the sister about his life, only to never get one in return. Throughout this chapter, the reader learns how truly contradictory the idea of a “true war story” really is. With a reflective and didactic tone, Tim O’brien effectively teaches those who have not fought in a war how to tell a true war story-- that “a

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And in the end, really, there’s nothing much to say about a true war story, except maybe ‘Oh’” (77). We can never assume the truth in a war story. The only way to discover the truth hidden behind the lies is to pull away the many layers or in this case the stories that make up a war

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Although the soldier he killed was an enemy soldier, instead of vilifying him he was able to humanize the man. O’Brien was able to describe the physical appearance of the soldier and imagine her life before war. The author was able to portray an emotional connection and made the line between friend and enemy almost vanish. This was able to reveal the natural beauty of shared humanity even in the context of war’s horror. O’Brien is able to find the beauty in the midst of this tragic and horrible event.

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O’Brien presents a variety of stories to present the complexity of war. “On The Rainy River” is a pre-war

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This forewarns the reader that they could be reading something that is real or something that is completely made up. O’Brien is a masterful writer who has created an unique story about the experience of war through his style of writing.

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Metafiction is a literary technique used by Tim O’Brien to frequently remind the readers of the fictional quality of his war stories and to emphasize the relations between fiction and reality. “Good Form” is an example of metafiction because it not only accounts for the reason why Tim O’Brien produces made-up stories—to deliver his personal feelings to the audience—but also makes the readers realize that The Things They Carried is a work of fiction, instead of a description of the reality. Tim O’Brien also applies metafiction to previous chapter, “How to Tell a True War Story”, and both chapters express the notion that feelings or morals are greater than facts. “Good Form” directly informs the readers about the author’s fabrication on the

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War is a Thing that blurs the line between truth and surrealism; what occurs in a War, it would appear that it can never be genuine, yet in the meantime, it happens. Numerous returning soldiers feel distanced from their homes and families because nobody can comprehend what they have seen or experienced. Author Tim O'Brien encountered the War firsthand when he was called to battle in Vietnam in 1969 and 1970. He and other individuals in his unit saw untold horror, yet also snapshots of magnificence and peace that appears to be contrary to the scene of cold-bloodedness and fear. O'Brien calls his novel a work of art, however, it depends on the experience of thousands of individuals who are called upon to battle for their nation in the mud and wildernesses of a piece of the world that is a long way from their own (O’Brien 273).

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War is the opposite of purity where corruption evolves soldiers into dehumanized reflections of themselves. The nature of war shows how dehumanizing it is, turning soldiers into savages as seen in the story, “How to Tell A True War Story”. War stories, as told by Tim O’Brien,

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With the goal of providing deeper understanding, O’Brien uses memory and death to convey the feelings on being in war. O’Brien uses storytelling and memory throughout the book, but it is especially prevalent in the chapter “How to Tell a True War Story”. In this chapter, he shows that stories can be told in multiple perspectives. This theme develops strongly through the chapter. O’Brien conveys to readers that stories can be told in many different ways, depending on interpretation by the storyteller and listener when he writes, “You can’t extract the meaning without unravelling the deeper meaning.”

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Chris Hedges, a former war correspondent, has a memory overflowing with the horrors of many battlefields and the helplessness of those trapped within them. He applies this memory to write War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, where he tutors us in the misery of war. To accomplish this goal, Hedges uses impactful imagery, appeals to other dissidents of war and classic writers, and powerful exemplification. Throughout his book, Hedges batters the readers with painful and grotesque, often first-hand, imagery from wars around the globe. He begins the book with his experience in Sarajevo, 1995.

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Proposed Paper Topic In my paper I would like to discuss Ernest Hemingway’s short story, “Soldier’s Home,” which is about a soldier named Kreb who returns home after fighting in World War I and struggles to find meaning in his life. My thesis statement is that the story’s minimalist, bare-bones prose works as a conceit that is reflective of its protagonist’s plight, as both Hemingway’s prose and Kreb’s narrative arc are reflective of an American post-war era in which solders struggled to adapt upon returning home to their friends and families. Kreb’s hometown and life there are not as he left it, and he feels utterly crushed and empty as a result of the horrors he has experienced.

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He fought a war in Vietnam that he knew nothing about, all he knew was that, “Certain blood was being shed for uncertain reasons” (38). He realized that he put his life on the line for a war that is surrounded in controversy and questions. Through reading The Things They Carried, it was easy to feel connected to the characters; to feel their sorrow, confusion, and pain. O’Briens ability to make his readers feel as though they are actually there in the war zones with him is a unique ability that not every author possess.

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Setting in any piece of literature is important to enlighten the readers about the background of the story. In this analysis, the short story picked for the study is Soldier's Home by Ernest Hemingway. From the stories, the author exposes the readers to the experience of a man struggling with himself concerning life in the past in relation to his present events. Krebs who returned from world war one comes home and finds nothing new. It explicates the plights of Krebs trying to fit himself in the society after a terrible experience of the war.

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