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Lauren Allen
Ms. Kathy
Comp 101-Essay #1
11 February, 2014
A True War Story Is Only What You Perceive
Most people think that a war story is about soldiers completing a mission set out by the government.
Tim OBrien has given us a different way to look at war in his article How to Tell a True War Story. In the
article How to Tell a True War Story OBrien claims that a war story is never moral, cannot be believed, and
it never seems to end. OBrien tries to explain what key aspects one should to look for to determine a true war
story. With this, one should understand that a war story is never fully true.
One aspect of a true war story is that it is never moral. This means a war story is never good, just, honest
or upstanding. In this case one should be able to identify a false war story, or what is perceived to be a false war
story if one is being told a war story including only righteousness. OBrien gives his readers a vivid example of
this when a soldier kills a baby buffalo. The whole platoon stood there watching, feeling all kinds of things,
but there wasnt a great deal of pity for the baby water buffalo (6). This demonstrates how the soldiers do not
feel any remorse for the death of the baby buffalo and how it was brought to death. Furthermore, this cruel act is
not righteous. This type of act and reaction is not an example of proper human behavior. Thus you can tell a
true war story if it is evil and unjust. OBrien says that In a true war story, if theres a moral at all, its like the
thread that makes the cloth (4). In this quote he explains that if there is some good at all in a true war story
then it should have many events and details that make up a whole as like the thread that makes the cloth.
OBrien says You cant tease it out (4). Meaning you cannot understand the meaning without exploring the
deeper, inner meaning. One cannot tell a true war story without messing it up.
One cannot trust a true war story; instead one should remain skeptical when being told a true war story.
OBrien says Often the crazy stuff is true and the normal stuff isnt because the normal stuff is necessary to
make you believe the truly incredible craziness (3). He explains how they started to hear weird echoes and out
of the rocks. Here OBrien is saying that in order for a war story to be real there has to be some mundane
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details. Only then does the crazy stuff become believable due to the normal stuff being added for one to believe.
OBrien describes a moment of war, he says One guy sticks juicy fruit in his ears (4). This is an example of
the something that is exaggerated in order to grasps the attention. This in turn makes a true war story
unbelievable. One would not believe that a soldier would actually stick juicy fruit in his ears. The soldier may
have actually been sticking ear plugs in their ears to block out the weird noises. In this quote you can see just
how traumatic the experience of war was for a soldier to be described as inserting juicy fruit candy into their
ears to block out the weird sounds. Instead on juicy fruit; it was more likely for the soldier to be sticking ear
plugs in his ear to block out the weird sounds.
The pictures get jumbled (3) There is always that surreal seemingness, which makes the story seem
untrue. This means that the story seems unreal and unbelievable. The pictures of what is happening gets mixed
up and confused, so one cannot tell a true war story completely. In war you lose your sense of the definite;
hence your sense of truth itself, and therefore its safe to say that in a true war story nothing much is ever very
true (8). You lose your sense of purpose, so your sense of truth is now blurred and uncertain. The surrealness
of the war story makes a true war story unbelievable and hard to trust it is true.
Finally, OBrien claims that a true war story never seems to end. OBrien says adding and subtracting,
making up a few things to get at the real truth (9). OBrien explains how as a war story is told over and over by
a different person and a different way each time; that bits and pieces of the story has gained more details and
less details about different events that take place. When we retell a war story if one is adding and subtracting,
this means the story is changing and being told differently. You can tell a true war story if you just keep telling
it (9). Even though OBrien has expressed that as a true war story is told again and again and that it loses
details and gains new ones; he also says in this quote that in order to tell a true war story you have to tell keep
telling it. To tell a true war story over and over is to have a never ending story. Thus a true war story is never
completely true; as the story is retold it changes and never ends. In a soldiers point of view, retelling the war
story reminds them of what they survived through and how strong they are. To retell a war story over and over
again for a soldier is to remember friends they lost and once shared special bonds with. Retelling a war story for
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a soldier can also make the war story seem never ending in their eyes. Every time a soldier retells a war story, it
takes their minds and memories back to that particular moment of the war causing them to constantly relive it
over and over in their minds.
A true war story is never moral, cannot be trusted, and never seems to end. It does not include
righteousness, just or upstanding. If it is a true was story it cannot be trusted as the story is constantly changing.
The story is constantly being told by a different person with a different memory. It can only be told by someone
who was actually there or by someone who has been told by another who was actually there to experience a true
war story. Finally, it never seems to end as it is being repeated in different ways. Every individual has key
aspects of a true war story that sticks with them and is understood in different ways than others. When telling a
true war story one must include the real with the fake and the tangibles with the intangibles. A true war story is
never ending, filled with wild and unjust behavior, so one must be sure to understand war is evil. Thus, a true
war story is never completely true.