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Comparing O 'Brien's Questions On Enemies And Friends'

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Fransisco Payes Mr.Chamberlin English P8 10/19/17 Enemies and Friends 1. In chapter 6, the agreement Jensen and Strunk made was that if either one of them gets seriously injured, the other will kill him and put him out his misery. 2. Dave Jensen broke his own nose because of the quote “ An Eye for an Eye.” Jensen predicted that Strunk would try to get him back for breaking nose. As of result Dave Jensen broke his own nose. This shows how both Dave and Strunk are willing to take full responsibility for their actions. 3. The main reason Jensen was relieved of “an enormous weight” when he learned that Strunk had died because he didn't want to kill his own friend. They have overcame obstacles with eachother. At the start they were “enemies” and at the end of the day, they became great friends. How to tell a True War Story and Dentist 1. This story beings with the line “This is true” because he …show more content…

He is trying to challenger the reader. Many people still believe that the United States won the the Vietnam war. O'Brien is trying to gear them down to reality and express to the reader not everything you hear is the truth. 11. Tim O'Brien says that true war stories cant really be told. The story he told to the women wasnt a “true war story”, but a love story. 12. Curt Lemon wanted his tooth pulled because always tries to play the macho man role and doesnt get scared of anything. While he was on the line to see the dentist, he blacks out. As of result to keep is masculinity intact he demands that his teeth should get pulled. Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong 1. Tim O'Brien is the main character and the protagonist who after the Vietnam tells his “war stories” to deal with his guilty conscience and his whole perspective about the Vietnam war. 2. “War stories”, aren't really war stories. Tim O'Brien also believes that Kiley's story isnt true because thats what soldiers always do. They change the story to make it seem more realistic and to give more

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The Dentist works its way into the happening-truth aspect of the novel in a different sort of way. It 's a smaller vignette, almost seemingly thrown into the novel without any purpose. Lemon 's character in the novel offers an unusual spin on the idea of bravery and courage within war. He obviously needs to show his capability to endure suffering and act bravely when adversity confronts him. He backs down in this section though and experiences discomfort, "He didn 't mind blood or pain—he actually enjoyed combat—but there was something about a dentist that just gave him the creeps" (83).

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1230 Words | 5 Pages

In the book, the chapter “How to Tell a True War Story” sheds light on his aim; this is where O’Brien wrote that it is not hard to tell a “true” war story, all a writer needs to do is add something embarrassing that “happened” to him/her, and people will think it's true. O’Brien shares this idea because if a writer admits

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Although able to face the toughest war commands, Curt Lemon cannot face the dentist. When visiting with the dentist, Curt passes out and embarrasses himself. Afterwards, O’Brien observes, “He seemed a little dazed. Now and then we could hear him cussing, bawling himself out. Anyone else would have laughed it off, But for Curt Lemon it was too much” (O’Brien 84).

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Not just because it’s a tall tale, but they’re all away from their significant other. It’s like a forbidden love that will never workout. Rat Kiley might have not been truthful, but it was okay. For him to talk about a story like that was like letting steam out of the pot. It had been a while since he relaxed throughout the madness, so for everyone to just listen to the story just daydream about a girl who came to war was enough to be at ease.

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Stories are for those late hours in the night when you can't remember how you got from where you were to where you are". (O'Brien 38) O’Brien uses his stories to reach his audience. There are generations of people who have no clue what war is really like, whether it is because of our misconceptions based on what media portrays or the fact that there are people who have not served in the military. Some people might know about Vietnam and know the outcome of the war, but they don’t have the experience and real life understanding of how that story ended. They might not be able to fully understand the feelings of a soldier.

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In “How to Tell a True War Story,” Tim O’Brien claims that the telling of a true war story is not about war itself, but about storytelling, illustrating the relationship between the reader and the storyteller, and the struggle the storyteller has in communicating the truth for readers to share in the experience. His intended audience is war veterans and storytellers. O’Brien uses narratives and commentary to provide examples about how to identify and tell a true war story. For example, O’Brien tells the story of Curt Lemon’s death three times throughout the text. O’Brien adds different details to each story that contradicts themselves, causing readers to question if the story is true.

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1091 Words | 5 Pages

I do not believe O’Brien believes in truth in war because the soldiers cannot explain the experiences of fighting a war. He says in the last paragraph, “And in the end, of course, a true war story is never about war…. It’s love and memory. It’s about sorrow.” Soldiers do not know what actually happened, rather what their minds are telling them happened.

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2081 Words | 9 Pages

The soldiers in the Vietnam War are portrayed as losing themselves in the chaos and trauma of combat. Through the stories of the soldiers and their experiences, O’Brien explores the ways in which war strips away one's sense of identity and humanity. The author himself is depicted as losing himself in the war. O'Brien served in the Vietnam War, and his experiences inspired much of the book. Through the character of Tim O'Brien, the author explores the ways in which war can strip away one's sense of self and purpose.

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O'Brien shows us that "In many cases a true war story cannot be believed. If you believe it, be skeptical. It's a question of credibility. Often the crazy stuff is true and the normal stuff isn't, because the normal stuff is necessary to make you believe the truly incredible craziness." (pg. 71).

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1310 Words | 6 Pages

When something is true, it just is. Rat Kiley’s story isn’t moral. The buffalo incident isn’t moral. However, it is undeniably the truth in the context of the story, despite its being fiction. O’Brien also says that “A true war story … makes the

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In Tim O'Brien's “Enemies” and “Friends”, O'Brien shows the effect the nature of war has on individuals and how war destroys and creates friendships. These two stories describe the relationship between two soldiers, Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen. In “Enemies”, friendship is broken over a fist fight about a stolen jackknife, which leaves Strunk with a broken nose and Jensen paranoid of whether or not Strunk’s revenge is coming. While in “Friends”, you see how the nature of war creates a bond of trust, even between people who first saw each other as enemies.

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1284 Words | 6 Pages

“How to Tell a True War Story” and “Ambush” are stories that both explore on topics: truth, the real definition of a true war story, and the role of truth. O 'Brien starts off “How to Tell a True War Story” with “This is true.” Starting this story with such a bold sentence not only makes it seem more true, but to some extent, it acts as a comfort statement to the narrator’s own doubts, as if there were unspeakable uncertainties and lies of the narrator. The title of this story also comes into play, with a meta-fictional name “How to Tell a True War Story”, as if it were a guide, a manual, having a true war story tell the readers how to tell a true war story. However ironically, towards the middle of the story, us as

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1047 Words | 5 Pages

Tim O’Brien informs the readers’ stories that expose the reality of the war and the fear of soldiers. Tim O’Brien along with many other soldiers covered up their fear and embarrassment in order to not see the truth of war. Jimmy Cross

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Why Is Telling A True War Story Hard Lots of stories are hard to comprehend because they’re more brutal and traumatic for listeners, even the story-teller. In three stories: “The Man I Killed”, “How To Tell A True War Story”, and “Speaking of Courage”, Tim O’Brien showed how changing certain parts of a story and making them graceful, can make them easier to comprehend. However sometimes telling the story the way it was makes it brutal and gruesome, though some listeners prefer that over gracefulness.

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1756 Words | 8 Pages

Young boys become brave men This theme is shown in the chapter, “ How to Tell A True War Story” when the narrator version of Tim O’Brien is telling the story of how Curt Lemon died by messing around like a teenage boy. In the story he dies because Rat Keily and Curt Lemon are messing around and a detonator goes off killing Curt and shocking all the men. In the story, Tim explains how they acted like kids when he explains, “ They didn't understand about the spookiness. They were kids; they just didn't know.”

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