"How To Tell a True War Story" Response

“How To Tell a True War Story” examines the relationship between war experiences and storytelling. His narrative shows that a storyteller has the power to shape his or her listeners experiences and opinions, a lot like how the war distorts the soldiers perceptions of right and wrong. O’Brien insists that the story is true, but then after telling it, in a more general discussion of storytelling, he insists that it’s difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen. The contradictions that are in this story proves that there are no truths to storytelling especially in true war stories. What I like about O’Brien’s story is how it seems like it’s also love story. O’Brien is specifically addressing war stories, but this can also be applied to stories in general. It seems as though O’Brien tells Lemon’s death as a love story. When he recounts the situation, he describes the scene beautiful, focusing on the sunlight rather than the carnage. Blood and carnage aren’t really discussed much. What I don’t like is how little he talks about war. It’s more about a soldiers anger and feelings after dealing with a horrible experience and less about courage and heroism. The conclusion that we can arrive to is that truth is a war story is irrelevant.