Moreover, at the first article, Howard Zinn says, “very few writers have dared to question the purity of the ‘good war.’’ ’ I think all of these stories want to show us that the Second World War for the United States was not just simply a “good war” although it was one of the most famous wars in the world and the United Sates won the fight at the end of the war. However, there were too many misunderstandings about it, and the war caused too many casualties. Although many people supported the Second World War in order to overthrow the Nazism, Fascism, and Japanese, there were still many victims who opposed the war and doubt about the Second World
In Tim O’Brien’s story “Notes,” he discusses his fellow soldier “Norman Bowker […] [who hung] himself in the locker room of the YMCA” (149). Bowker symbolizes the pain that many veterans experienced, and how they sadly found their only escape through suicide. Yet, veterans potentially could have survived and even thrived if they had access to resources such as therapy, psychiatrists, and psychologists. When organizations supporting the idea that veterans should have opportunity to obtain these assets proposed this concept to The House Committee members, “members repeatedly balked at the notion that Vietnam Veterans required special counseling programs to help readjust” (Scott 38).
Critical Review Military Fraud: The Myth of Automatic Virtue The short story by Steve Gillman was written on the bases of his personal beliefs on the praises military received from just by joining. He starts the essay with a short paragraph saying “It is about cultural mythology that has been created in the United States, which makes all soldiers into “heroes” (Gillman 679). The most important part of this quote was that by reading it the readers would understood that he was clearly against that all soldiers where no heroes.
“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
Being regretful? And are they still heroes even if their story may be fake? To start off whether or not soldiers are heroes, we begin with the death of an innocent boy. O’Brien accidentally kills a boy with a grenade having feared for his own life, but ultimately regrets it as he imagined the boy having lived a fruitful and peaceful life.
In the short story, “The Man I Killed,” O’Brien focuses on this to show that everyone fighting in a war has a story. He spends the story describing the man he killed and searching for justification of his actions. He carries around guilt with him because of it, and his fellow soldiers try to help him justify and come to terms with his action by saying things like, “You want to trade places with him? Turn it all upside down= you want that? I mean, be honest,” (126) and “Tim, it’s a war.
In the chapter, How to Tell a True War Story, he emphasizes this a lot. “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.”
Human beings often claim to be searching for the truth. The truth often entails finding the right answer, choice, or formula. The search for truth develops a tendency to settle for the easiest choice—a false truth; more often than not, a false truth goes unquestioned in order to remain benighted. Concerning the false truth in The Things They Carried, information—specifically memories, must be sorted into two categories: those stories that are true and those which are simply glorified recreational war stories. It would be a near impossible task due to the extent that the tales mix.
True war stories are hard to tell, because of the guilt from things seen and those not seen. True stories do not allow the author to see things he never saw, so creating new images are necessary to create the story. True war stories are too subjective; even if it is true to someone it may not be true to the other. O’Brien says the only thing a true war story needs is to be asked if it is true, “and if it matters you got your answer” (O’Brien 79). It does not need to be factually true to make it a true war story.
Ambiguity Lingers On Edith Wharton, who is an American author, states “The novelist must rely on what maybe called the illuminating incident to reveal and emphasize the inner meaning of each situation” (Wharton). Tim O’Brien uses illuminating moments to show how war makes guilt ambiguous. By examining three specific moments, the reader discovers how difficult it is to deal with the ambiguities of guilt. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross suffers from the ambiguity of guilt about Ted Lavender’s death.
In The Things They Carried, O’Brien’s story-telling method is an attempt to show that the lines between fiction and reality are often not that far. Even though the names or details may not be fully accurate, this does not change the fact that they are a reality for many. Additionally, he challenges the importance that we place on war and links it to a storytelling aspect because he’s pointing out that not every story has a moral to it. With tragic events, we typically want some sort of meaning behind them, some sort of assurance that the incident was not for nothing. However, this is not always true, as a character “Yeah, well…I don’t see no moral”…
Few things surpass the difficulties that accompany the overwhelming unknowns, unplanned fighting, and risk of injury on the battle field. To exasperate this pain, many media outlets falsely report on wars and publish stories that glamorize the events instead of telling the truth. As a response to the inaccurate “hype” regarding the war in Iraq, former soldier Jessica Lynch presents a combination of her own stories, emotionally-charged moments in the war, and honest facts to correctly tell her story in her speech “The Truth is Always More Heroic than the Hype;” the mix of these appeals increase the power of her speech. In order deliver a captivating and effective speech, it is necessary to maintain a foundation of trust with an audience.
What is a true war story? How can it be told? this is a quite complicated question with a quite complex response(s). a true war story is something beyond generalizing, that could be true and untrue at a time. There is not only one type of truth, but happening and seeming truths, and not the man could know the real truth in a war story.
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.
This is because in a true war story “there’s nothing much to say about the war story, except maybe ‘Oh’” (How to Tell a True War Story, Tim O’Brien, 39). This
