How to Tell a True War Story by Tim O'brien

Within the chapter “How to Tell a True War Story,” O’Brien writes about a story that Mitchell Sanders recounts to be true. The surrealist part is when Sanders talks about how they heard noises within the forests of Nam. Sanders says, “...but after a while they start hearing -you won’t believe this- they hear chamber music… Then after a while they hear gook opera and a glee club…” (Pg. 71). When he says this he is really adding details to pad the story up. Like when Sanders say, “The whole country. Vietnam. The place talks. It talks. Understand? Nam - it truly talks.” (Pg. 71). He means to say that he added those things that they heard because there were sounds they heard that couldn’t be explained. Later on he says that those things they heard

The Things They Carried is a book written by Tim O’Brien. It features many different stories from many different people who fought or participated in the Vietnam War. There are two particular stories, “How to Tell a True War Story” and “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong,” that stand out because they use surrealism. Surrealism is the word to describe what most people may perceive as “unreal”. These stories use surrealism by creating elements in the story that almost sound impossible, but the author insists that they are true. Throughout the story, we are constantly asking what is real and not real. But, if we use examples from the book, it may be easier to define what is real and unreal.

War stories are usually an emotional or depressing version of someone’s experience during their time in war. In Tim O’Brien’s short story, “Where Have You Gone, Charming Billy?” and Youtube video, “How to Tell A True War Story” he expresses many of his emotions and his journey after he returned from combat. He explained how scary the war can be, encouraging you to stay away from warfare so you don't have to deal with the guilt he feels, and how depressing and how much his life has changed since returning from his deployment.

In the chapter entitled “How to Tell a True War Story,” the narrator, Tim O’Brien, lists various ways in which one can tell a “true” war story. He describes, in one instance, that one can “tell a true war story by the way it never seems to end” (72). This definition stood out to me the most as I thought that it related best to ideas O’Brien had brought up in earlier chapters. The notion that war stories appear endless is one that was also touched upon when O’brien explained: “in any war story, but especially a true one, it’s difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen” (67). Perhaps O’Brien relates the idea that once a story has replaced a memory, the story becomes a part of oneself, and thus never seems to end -- or at least

Gen. George S. Patton, Jr., wrote: “The soldier is the Army. No army is better than its soldiers. The Soldier is also a citizen. In fact, the highest obligation and privilege of citizenship is that of bearing arms for one’s country.” With the all volunteer military, more and more americans are being disconnected with their peers, and fewer are choosing to serve. The divide between these two americans is wider than ever before. When Veterans try to share their experiences, many people might not be able to offer empathy. Tim O’Brian in “How to Tell a True War Story” constantly reiterates that war stories could be shared in perspective of the fire fights and theatrics, but a more effective one sheds light on the soldier’s ability to make sense

1. O’Brien believed that the war was unjust for both himself and many others. He received his draft notice only two weeks after graduating from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. Although he studied political science while there, he tried everything he could to ignore the ongoing Vietnam War. With attending peace vigils and war protests, he was ready to attend Harvard University’s School of Government to earn his Ph.D. Since he was “politically naive”, it was hard for him to understand why he had to risk his life for a cause he did not believe in. This idea resonated with other characters.

In his article, “what is an Initiation Story,” Mordecai Marcus gives us the following: in order for any young protagonist to consider themselves entering adulthood they must gain knowledge about themselves or the world around them. There are three different types of initiation that people can go through. The first definition of an initiation story is tentative is that a young protagonist goes through an event and doesn’t change the protagonist at all. The second level of an initiation story is when the protagonist goes through an event that changes them slightly while the third level changes the protagonist and goes into adulthood.

War is an experience that is difficult to understand and describe. Imagine coming back from war and not having the love, comfort, or support from your loved ones to help you move on with your life. How would one feel in that situation? According to the way Tim O’Brien told the stories of the soldiers in The Things They Carried, they either knew how to cope or didn’t.

The end of world-war II marked the beginning of a new era in this country. The baby boom era began in 1946 and ended in 1964. During this era, 76 million babies were born according to pew research center. The number of people reaching adulthood in the next decade was tremendous. As a result, the country had to adjust to meet the demands and fulfill its obligations to the citizens. Though, the boomers were sophisticated and wanted to impose their views on the rest of the society. Eventually, the country started to experience some changes and the boomers’ influence was propagating in the society. Cheryl Russell, the Editor-in-Chief of America Demographics Magazine and the author of “100 Predications for the Baby Boom: The next 50 years.” In his

War can be defined as “an active struggle between competing entities. It’s truly hard to tell who is right or wrong during a war. Both sides are fighting for what they believe in and what is true to their heart. In the end there is always two things promised – destruction and death. These two objects can explain the result in every facet of war from the physical to emotional.

In the decades after the “Good War,” many attempts have been made to extol this generation in the media. Myth and the Greatest Generation: A Social History of Americans in World War II by Kenneth D. Rose, attempts to shine light on how life actually was for the generation that survived World War II, and came to be known as the greatest generation, rather than how that generation appears to us today.

The short story that will be discussed, evaluated, and analyzed in this paper is a very emotionally and morally challenging short story to read. Michael Meyer, author of the college text The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature, states that the author of How to Tell a True War Story, Tim O’Brien, “was drafted into the Vietnam War and received a Purple Heart” (472). His experiences from the Vietnam War have stayed with him, and he writes about them in this short story. The purpose of this literary analysis is to critically analyze this short story by explaining O’Brien’s writing techniques, by discussing his intended message and how it is displayed, by providing my own reaction,

turning my head again I saw Simon dive to my aid. He did not utter a

     According to the author Tim O’Brien, people tend to readily accept the ‘facts’ presented of what happened during a war. People do not consider the existence of fallacies regarding the actual stories of what happens in wars, few consider that the ‘facts’ of an incident often change through people’s words. The film ‘Saving the Private Ryan’ by Steven Spielberg features both facts and seemingness part of the war story. Since it is so difficult to fully describe a war using human language, Spielberg ended up revising his stories to make sense out of it. Spielberg included parts that did not occur or exclude parts that did occur in order to make their stories seem more credible. According

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a very important law that changed a lot of things for many people of different races, genders, and religions. The law basically outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in the United States of America (“1960’s”).