123 School Work

Analysis of How to Tell a True War Story

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  In Tim O'Brien's "How to Tell a True War Story," the art of storytelling is taken into review by a seasoned storyteller. Many of the common clichs used while telling a war story are second guessed and even prohibited if the storyteller desires to keep the story believable and memorable. Tim O'Brien was a college graduate when he was drafted to serve in the Vietnam War, leading to many literary works influenced by this era dominated by war and issues raised by it. O'Brien's conclusions about war storytelling are definitely against the norm of war stories that we see today, that often make the same mistakes and show the same signs of a work of pure fiction. Ultimately, O'Brien implies that there are no true war stories, and whether or not that notion matters. O'Brien does not necessarily do this for the sake of fact over fiction, but probably rather to break away from the social sugar-coated views of war that the public is so accustomed to, and not submit to the illusory depictions of war stories attributed by the media.
       O'Brien uses his first person account of a tragic death of a friend to express his theme (421), demonstrating the impossibility of being to actually express a "true" war story. By writing many separate narratives and then connecting them with a common theme, O'Brien uses an interesting literary technique to prove his point. It is the many retellings of the same basic event that gradually portray how difficult it is to write a war story and manage to express all that it can contain. Interjected with each retelling are paragraphs describing what war stories are like, and each additional section also proves the same point: telling a true war story is impossible...