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O'Brien: How to tell a true war story. How to Tell a True War Story ?
The Irony of Truth in Tim O?Brien?s ?How to Tell a ...
... Summary on O?Brien?s How to Tell a True War Story ?How to Tell a True War Story?
by Tim O?Brien, first appeared in October 1987 in Esquire Magazine. ...
... In ?How to Tell a True War Story? O?Brien explores the relationship between
the events during a war and the art of telling those events. ...
How to Tell a True War Story? O?Brien was drafted into the army during
the Vietnam War. He is telling several stories in different ...
... Like Faulkner, Tim O’Brien starts “How to Tell a True War Story” at the end.
Unlike Faulkner there is nothing to predict in O’Brien’s story. ...
Submitted by magdamlynek on August 16, 2005
Category: English
Words: 2126 | Pages: 9
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How to Tell a True War Story – The Irony of Truth in Tim O’Brien’s “How to Tell a True War Story”
“This is true.” (O’Brien, 420) – with this simple statement which also represents a first, three-word introductory paragraph to Tim O’Brien’s short story, “How to Tell a True War Story”, the author reveals the main problem of what will follow. “Truth” – when looked up in a dictionary, we would probably find definitions similar to sincerity and honesty on the one hand, and correctness, accuracy or reality on the other hand. When looking at these definitions, one can make out two groups of meaning: While sincerity and honesty are very subjective, correctness or accuracy are supposed to be objective by nature. One can be sincere and still not report the truth, due to the simple fact that one does not know any better. Accuracy, however, is supposed to represent facts, bits and pieces of information that paint a picture of an event, untouched by opinion or attitude.
In his short story, O’Brien unravels step by step the irony in the double meaning of truth, implied in this first statement, “This is true”, to the reader which is then woven through the entire story. By trying to characterize what constitutes a true war story, but never really achieving this goal, the true irony of his short story is revealed. Even though in some instances giving away his opinion explicitly, the sheer contradiction of honesty and reality becomes even more visible in an implicit way by following O’Brien’s explanations throughout the story while he deconstructs his first statement. The incongruity between his first statement and what is actually shown in his examples does not need any explicit statements to drive home his message.
An interesting combination of recalled events and editorial commentary, the story is not set up like a traditional short story. One of the most interesting, and perhaps troubling, aspects of the construction of “How to...
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