Student Essay on How to Tell a True War Story

Analysis of Tim O'Brien's work in following his self set rules in, "The Things They Carried."

In chapter 7 - How to Tell a True War Story - of Tim O'Brien's novel, "The Things They Carried," O'Brien outlines his criteria for what he believes makes a 'true war story.' O'Brien says that such a story "does not instruct", "does not make you feel uplifted" and should, in fact, cause embarrassment. In a true war story, it should be "hard to separate what happened with what seemed to happen," and the story should not be believable. "If it is believable, be sceptical." It should not generalize, abstract or analyze, should offer no point and have no moral. In a sense, O'Brien explains that the point of a true war story is to make "your gut believe" - to make you understand that war cannot be generalize or summed up, and that the feelings.....