How To Tell a True War Story Essay
The http://site-2115229-4951-7889.mystrikingly.com chapter “How to Tell a True War Story� tells various stories by different characters, on which the author, Tim O’Brian comments through metafictive statements such as “a true war story is never moral�. Through this short story within the book, the author offers the opportunity to understand the art of writing about War. The story with the “baby buffalo� is an excellent example of the sophisticated implementation of O’Brian’s ideas about “how to tell a true war story�.
I will examine each of the author’s instructions with regard to the story and analyze why this story is a “true war story� according to the author. “The [author has] told it before -many times, many versions’, but [now tells] what actually happened�. This immediately raises the question, why the author failed to tell the true story before: it might be the case that it was too embarrassing for him to tell. After all a soldier tortured an innocent animal, while the others were watching him without intervening.
