Vonnegut and O'Brien - War Reflections

“Slaughterhouse Five” and “How To Tell A True War Story” are both written by war veterans Kurt Vonnegut and Tim O’ Brien.  Both of the authors portrayed their stories so effectively and realistically that even the fictionalized parts reflected the truthfulness of the reality they both  experienced during the war. Both Vonnegut and O’Brien have an impression of genuineness that comes from having lived what they write. The authors intentionally present their plots as truth-based.  In the chapters of “Slaughterhouse Five,” Kurt Vonnegut states “All this happened, more or less.” Correspondingly, O’Brien constantly tries to exemplify each story with its backgrounds, for example when he says that all war stories are true but not any war stories have morals and if they do then those war stories are not true. Both authors write truthfully, and flashbacks constantly on their past experiences to make their war stories portray reality in someway.  Both the writers have the essential knowledge to be able to simplify, abbreviate, or exaggerate certain events. “Slaughterhouse Five” and “How To Tell A True War Story” served many different reflections toward the genre of anti-war literature. In “Slaughterhouse Five” the actions were enhanced, exhibiting the horrifying realities of war on a grander scale, then the mystic illusions of characters such as Billy Pilgrim show the harmful effects of war on the human mind. Moreover, in “How to Tell A True War Story,” O’Brien constantly replays the memory of Lemon’s death which showed the post-traumatic stress disorder that many war soldiers suffers from. The two stories are truly very similar to each other and convey a substantial argument of the horrors of war by truthfulness and portraying how individuals respond to it.  Both contexts of the stories, shows the behavior of individuals at war, and how these stories effectively send their anti-war sayings to the humankind.