Tim O'Brien's How to Tell a True
War Story is not just an account
of war stories and the effect of war on the human psyche – it's the
mental fight and struggle to recount, explain, and remember these
stories and events. Through what he's writing and how he writes it,
O'Brien gradually conveys more and more of what makes a war story
“true,” and what makes a “true war story.”
From
the start, O'Brien's phrasing conveys the shades of gray in war. He
insists the war stories with clear morals are not
true, stating that a true story has an “absolute and uncompromising
allegiance to obscenity and evil.” He later comments on the
“absolute moral indifference” of wartime actions, such as bombs
and explosions and death, and states that true
war stories will acknowledge this lack of morality, even though
that's ugly.
O'Brien
describes how what actually happened in a traumatic event is often
different from what is perceived or remembered to have happened. To
illustrate this, in my mind, is why he told the same story of Rat
Kiley dying repeatedly, but each time presented it differently, with
different emphasis on certain aspects of the event. I feel as though
the experience of war can force you to relive moments you'd rather
not, and that's why O'Brien has many different views and ways of
explaining the same story.
The
contradictory nature of his story (“Almost everything is true.
Almost nothing is true.”) digs into the contradictory nature of
war, like how it is grotesque and beautiful, and brings soldiers
close to death and close to life. Again, no issue is black and white,
no issue can be generalized. This is why I appreciated O'Brien's
points and style. He made me think about recollections of war in a
way I haven't before.
adrian rotondo-mccord
I also believe that the way that O'Brien kept repeating the way Kiley died was also because the way you remember things can change with the context one is remembering. That is if your thinking of the war itself while telling the story you would focus on the gore and tragedy, while if you're telling the story of the man it could be one of bravery, though they are a story of the same subject. I also think it ties in to the point of his use of contradiction because most of the soldiers I know don't know what to think of the situations on a moral aspect, so the memories get mixed up between what actions you took as a soldier (your job) and the same actions just another person trying to make it through the war in one piece.
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