How To Tell A War Story Rhetorical Analysis

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In “How to Tell a War Story,” Tim O’Brien claims that a true war story is never about the war. O’Brien uses the rhetorical element of pathos to convince those in military families about the true meaning of a war story. An example of pathos is the story of when Rat Kiley wrote a letter to the sister of Curt Lemon about how incredible Curt Lemon was. The letter Rat Kiley writes ends up getting serious and sad which causes Rat Kiley to bawl his eyes out. In the end, Rate Kiley ended up with no response from this sister. This demonstrates how the focus of the reading is to define how a true war story is not about the war. Another way O’Brien establishes the main idea of a war story not being about the war is the different narratives he uses. One