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How to tell a true war story by tim o'brien
How to tell a true war story by tim o'brien
How to tell a true war story by tim o'brien
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Tim O’Brien uses detail to let readers know his emotions during the war. “I felt paralyzed. All around me the options seemed to be narrowing, as if I were hurtling down a huge black funnel, the whole world squeezing in tight” (O’brien, 41). He was stuck with the feeling of scared and not knowing what to do. He used detailed words to have readers try to understand what he was feeling.
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
(page 68). This is why Tim O’Brien writes the way he does. He wants the reader to believe his story and get a sense of what war is truly
The Terrible Curse of War War is a curse to humanity, and causes many problems for the human race. War is something that we must try our best to avoid. There’s many reasons why we should avoid war, and I will try to go over a few. These stories will be used as evidence along with my reasons.
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.
“This is true” is repeated throughout Tim O’Brien’s Narrative Nonfiction short story “How To Tell a True War Story” with even the title being ambiguous in itself and readers get the opportunity to walk in the shoes of the each person with a war story. The structure of the story starts off with Rat writing a letter to his dead friend meanwhile showing an example of how to tell a true war story. O’Brien states “If you don’t care for obscenity, you don’t care for the truth; if you don’t care for the truth, watch how you vote.” ( O’Brien 67). Throughout the story, multiple testimonies (snapshots) were told by the narrator making the story more credible since the narrator is not an actual character within the story, therefore being unable to create
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.
O’Brien goes into great depth in this small quote on how loss of innocence and war can affect people in the war. The quote “Often the crazy stuff is true and the normal stuff isn’t” shows how war is so different from what any human experiences at home. After that small quote he follows it up by bringing up how you have to use normal stuff to show how crazy these things are and how much of a pole it can have on somebody during a war. The way that war is treated for many is mostly the mental part that is struggling. But for many "War is hell, but that's not half of it, because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love.
In his excerpt “How to Tell a True War Story”, from his novel The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien explains that a true war story is not moral, does not stop the things that have always happened, is obscene, is surreal, is detailed, does not depend on exact truth, and leaves people with nothing much to say besides “Oh.” Based on Tim O’Brien’s depiction of a “true war story”, Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse-Five is an acutely authentic story of war. Of the many points Tim O’Brien makes about true war stories, one of them touches on morality. O’Brien states that “A true war story is never moral.
In the book O’Brien uses imagery, figurative language and repetition to put across his message. His purpose for the story telling, is to clear his conscience of war and to tell the stories of soldiers who were forgotten by society. The narrator was against the war. In The Things They Carried.
In Tim O’Brien’s “How to Tell a War Story” the message being conveyed is that war cannot accurately be captured or fully encompassed through storytelling. O’Brien highlights the complexity of expressing the realities of war, and how opinions and emotions toward war itself can be multifaceted. Additionally, he brings to light the need for interpretation and embellishment to capture the essence of war. He suggests that the most authentic war stories seem exaggerated or unbelievable because some elements had to be changed to capture the actual essence of the experience. O’Brien states that “...it’s difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen.
War stories can be very challenging stories to write, and most war stories are just replicas of other war stories in which it is all action, it is what we already know about war. A true war story should touch upon the soldiers and the lives and battles within themselves, not just the fighting out in the field. O’Brien defines what a real war story is and how it should be written in the story “How to Tell a War Story.” O’Brien believes that a true war story lies within the reality of the situation. In other words, O’Brien believes that war stories should be about the truth of it, the hardships and daily battles with their partners and with their psychological challenges.
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.
In books and articles like Animal Farm by George Orwell, “kid kustomers” and “the brand essence” by Eric Schlosser, and more, there are many examples of people’s feelings that are often
The reference is saying that the people want to have feelings. This reference reminds the reader that the people that can not feel emotions. In this society, emotions and individuality are conditioned out of children at a young age. In closing, it is important to note that the people want to know what it’s like to have emotions. Most people will tell you that stability is not worth the cost of individual freedom.
