The Things They Carried....

SO..........
Yes this book is definitely interesting and annoying in a way, specially when it comes to How to Tell a True War Story. Why you may ask? because it contradicts itself; it tells you that there is no true war story, but at the same time there is.
Well to start of in this chapter, O'Brien definitely appeals to the audience's feelings. For example when he tells the story of the water buffalo. He knows that this story will appeal to the sensitive side of the reader. He goes on by telling us that this story is not true, that this never happened and that is why this is a true war story. This was confusing to me until I realized during class on Friday, that what he was trying to get at with the whole idea of what a true story is, is that a war story is not based on details or facts about what really happened, but the feeling behind it. Telling the story in detail, takes away the reason why it is told. These stories are told by the soldiers to get the audience to feel the pain they are going through so they feel less alienated. When they come back from war, they feel alienated because no one knows what they have been through, and it is really hard for them to explain. They use stories to try to feel less alone, so people feel just as bad as they do so they can have something in common. For example, going back to the water buffalo story, the fact that the story was sad was enough to make it a true war story. The fact that this story is being told in the book, also shows that the soldiers need someone else to feel the pain they are going through, that's why the brutal killing of the water buffalo, they wanted him to suffer. Another way to deal with their pain is by saying bad words, which is another reason why they feel alienated and feel the need to make people feel bad with their stories. People don't like the fact that when men come back from war they say a lot of obscenities, but if you really think about it it is their own fault for voting for them to go to war in the first place. Once in war they get used to saying bad words because it is a fact that if you say a bad word when you get hurt it helps you feel less pain. So it makes sense that they come back from the war with a really dirty mouth.

Well this is all I have for now. I'm sorry if it is a little confusing.