How To Tell a True War Story Reflection

O’Brien starts by saying, listen to my story, I swear it’s true then the first thing he says is basically, never believe a war story, none of them are true. The first of many contradictions. 

The psychological repercussions of PTSD turned writing style that make themselves most apparent in this particular story are not only the many if not dozens of obvious contradictions, but something more that comes across as literary mood swings. 

My first example is that he starts his story about a characters' letter to a dead comrades sister, he begins by raving about the guy and then ends the portion of the story in an anticlimactic, "the old cooze never wrote back”. Another example is when  describes the two mens interactions leading up to ones death, he re-iterates the innocence and lightness even goofiness of their interactions almost desperately and then boom, the guy gets blown up.

There is a pattern of things being peaceful and nice going negative and scary. He says you’re brother’s a good guy and we had amazing times, to I miss him like crazy and you’re a cooz. Also, these two guys are best friends and really silly, then one dies. And then during Mitchells story when twilight was beautiful, the river was peaceful, then the shadows and mountains become mysterious and unknown. He almost seems hysterical and desperate as the author. 

O’brien is also repetitive, saying over and over things like if you hear a war story, don’t believe it, there are no true war stories, there are no moral ones, and if there IS morality in one, it’s unclear and questionable. The way O'brien writes about Mitchell telling his story about the silent men in the mountains is with the same tone that he tells his own story, sort of exasperated with the listener, desperate for them to understand and then frustrated and repetitive when they don't seem to. 

Hysteria comes back in his description of Rat’s encounter with the baby buffalo. His writing, to me, becomes unnecessarily violent and over the top. I think he goes on and on about this one messed up detail, the intensity of which, could have been done in a single sentence. again, the writing seems hysterical, almost unstable. 

The question of how does Tim Obrien’s writing reflect PTSD is difficult because it’s a semi autobiographical piece so it’s difficult to separate what is just the story from what could actually be part of his personality. He even says so himself in the story, fiction and reality are blurred lines. Tim O’brien is an incredibly intellectual guy but that's hard for me to connect to because this story seemed hysterically written, but maybe that was his whole point.

How to Tell a War Story with PTSD

Throughout Tim O'Briens How to Tell a True War Story, he discuss how he formed different relationships with critical characters in the story and the relationship others had made. Obrien stresses the importance of relationships within the story to build an emotional interest towards the characters. During the story Tim Obrien highlights emotional tragedies mainly so that when something traumatic occurs the reader is emotional invested. Throughout the story Obrien uses repetition to draw attention to how these traumatic events have creating a lasting emotional impact for himself; repetition highlights side potential side effects of PSTD. By describing PTSD victims' suffering, the reader has the opportunity to realize that PTSD is a serious affliction and "experience" it themselves. A critical example of the traumatic events that can offer trigger PSTD is where Rat's best friend, Lemon, steps on a land mine, resulting in his gruesome demise. Lemons' death completely changes Rat and he has lasting emotional changes that impact the character throughout the story. Obrien states "The gore was horrible, and stays with me, but what wakes me up twenty years later is Norman Bowker singing "Lemon Tree" as we threw down the (body) parts (8)".His vivid description of Lemons death shows Obrien's attempt to demonstrate that the character experiences PTSD following the trauma. An emotional connection to the characters and their feelings makes for a more engaging reading experience, especially when pertaining to war fare. PTSD, its symptoms, causes and effects are explored in Tim Obrien's How to Tell a War Story.

On the Complex Simplicity of Contradictions

   Contradictions are extremely abundant in the title story of "How To Tell A True War Story." I think Tim O'Brien's use of them makes sense and overall isn't really surprising in this context. Describing the indescribable is not an easy task. Describing war is far down the line of describing the indescribable. Contradictions I think help clarify how confusing war is. War in the simplest way is a contradiction. Humans are fighting humans and in many ways that does not seem the natural way. Not to mention if one adds the complexity of national pride, politics, human emotion and human philosophy to the mix. War just gets more contradictory.I feel like writing is like trying to hit a target, a very small target. Building contradictions around whatever subject matter one is writing about narrows the lane the target stands at the end of. Contradictions are almost like walls in my mind. If one offers a contradiction, it is not whatever the first statement is, but it is not what the second statement is so the truth, or the closest to the truth stands somewhere in the middle, but you cannot quite put your finger on it. Contradictions also serve the purpose of making the reader feel unbalanced, and uncertain. If the writer issues a statement that the sky is not green, but it is not blue either then it must be somewhere in between, but we're not quite sure. The effect on the reader of not being sure leaves us with feelings of anxiety about the story, especially if the technique of contradictions is used gratuitously. Contradictions are then, in accord writing about war. I think that probably a soldier is at all times, unbalanced and anxious. The constant proximity to death does that to a person. The constant exposure to contradictions mimics that anxiety in a diluted way.    

Coffee and Frosted Flakes

            Tim O' Brien struggles to grasp what "actually happened" in every war story he reveals in this chapter. Although The Things They Carried is fiction, Tim attempts to make the reader understand how difficult it was to cope with the events that his platoon members experienced throughout war. By doing so, Tim reveals certain psychological effects of PTSD. Even within the first page of the chapter, the reader doesn’t feel empathy for Lemon, but for Bob Kiley, Lemon’s good friend who wrote an honest and heart felt letter to Lemon’s sister regarding his death and the magnitude of their friendship. After explaining in depth how terrific the letter was, Tim goes on to explain what a true war story is. This theme comes up quite a lot in this chapter, and Tim’s vulnerability is exposed through his repetition, contradiction and bitterness towards the subject.

            Tim jumps around the events the lead up to Lemon’s death. After talking about how him and Kiley were having fun and messing around he ends the paragraph with “It’s all exactly true.” Right before he gets to Lemon’s death he writes, “It’s hard to tell what happened next.” The reader can almost feel a limitation in Tim’s flashbacks that surround Lemon’s death. He goes on to tell the reader how hard it is to separate what happened and what actually happened in any war story. This paragraph is quite contradictive. Again Tim does an excellent job at making the reader “feel.” This time it’s the anxiety and emotional ups and downs a war story can make you feel, and how close to the truth they can get, simply because the non-believable parts are honest and the story teller has to make up the believable sections.

After Sander’s story about his platoon going into the mountains, Tim dives into what the moral of a war story should be, if any. You can’t extract a meaning without unraveling a deeper meaning, he says. However, a sentence later he claims “There’s nothing much to say about a true war story.” “A True war story, if truly told, makes the stomach believe.” 

Desensitization and Fungibility

The desensitization of the soldiers is the most significant and noticeable part of Tim O’Brien’s "How to Tell a True War Story." He gives us these characters at their most vulnerable. He introduces the world through Rat Kiley’s story—which is definitely written by an unreliable narrator. It’s quickly evident—the commonplace acts of violence soldiers have become accustomed to—the nastiness, the absurd. The desensitization is evident in Rat’s story home to Kurt Lemon’s sister. He tells her of how he and her brother went “fishing with hand grenades” and says that he will look in on her later. He expects that this act of generosity on his part necessitate gratitude from her. It becomes clear that the extent of this gratitude was perhaps intended to manipulate her. When she does not reply at all she is considered ungrateful. There are other characters besides Rat that give the audience and idea of how—in some respects—a soldiers life is that of children just playing in the forest. We get a scene with two characters—one supposedly the narrator—tossing around smoke grenades. He assures us that the only way a person could get hurt is if they were doing something stupid.  

O’Brien seeks to show us how utterly elusive war is—in doing so, he tries to show us what it is not. Tim O’Brien tells us that the only true war story is full of obscenity, and no one wins. He gives us—almost exclusively—unreliable narrators, telling us that perhaps there are no reliable narrators. By doing this, he does all he can to get us to trust his story, because it cultivates a voice of believable skepticism. It causes us to question the narrator. Similar to the Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce Et Decorum Est,” he warns us of stories with morals—ones that purport “the old lie.” The senseless things those characters do, venting rage frustration and anger on bystanders and the environment itself. Perhaps soldiers come to regard these things as fungible. In Rat’s case, the baby water buffalo is definitely an example of this.  

These Techniques Though

Oh how Curt Lemon's tragic and sudden death... Oh his sudden death. It takes a bit for the reader to understand how Curt passes, yet listen, his death was a quick one.  Description can be deceiving, in this case the description of a tragic, yet sudden death. O'Brien said this himself, "often the crazy stuff is true and the normal stuff isn't because the normal stuff is necessary to make you believe the truly incredible craziness" (3). The only person here who experienced a true and sudden death was Curt. The time in which the event took place may have been a sudden one, but the effects of the event last in the memories of each and every person who witnessed it. O'Brien even has the ability to flashback to each sense that was experienced during this moment, "I still remember that trail junction and the giant trees and a soft dripping sound somewhere beyond the trees. I remember the smell of moss" (2). For him to be able to recap (flashback to) each sense he experienced with such serene detail is an example of PTSD taking effect. 

The sound somewhere beyond the trees... LET IT BE KNOWN also that sound plays an important role throughout this reading. It would probably be better to say that having the ability to listen to that sound plays a pivotal role through 'Nam.

This is not a role that someone going through this war wants to have. "The rock—it’s talking. And the fog, too, and the grass and the goddamn mongooses. Everything talks. The trees talk politics, the monkeys talk religion. The whole country. Vietnam, the place talks" (4). If one is trying to find a psychological repercussion in this story, here you go. It was described as a cocktail in the forest, a cocktail that would not sleep. Firepower was called in on this cocktail party. It had reached the point to where silence could even be heard. It is hard to grasp how millions of dollars can be spent towards destroying the sounds of silence. Listening is terrifying, war is terrifying, and they can both be hard things to do. O'Brien successfully used repetition of this concept of sound throughout the story to represent the essentials of listening.

He states at the end of the reading what a true war story is, "it's about sisters who never write back and people who never listen" (10). When a person not thrown into the moment, such as the colonel or the sister, tries to grasp an understanding, it often turns up with no response. This causes a switch, a point in time when the person who has experienced these events looses it. A perfect example of this is when Rat shoots the baby buffalo. A most gruesome death, thoughts racing through his mind all-the-while killing an innocent animal: the death of his best friend, the girlfriend who never wrote back. The early stage of PTSD had begun at this moment, if not, the only stage. "Well, that's 'Nam" - Mitchell Sanders

The relationship between the reader and writter

In "How to Tell a True War Story" Tim O'Brien talks about how he formed different relationships with different people throughout the story, as well as other soldiers who formed relationships with other soldiers.  And the reason Tim does this is to form not only bonds with characters in his story, but to build the reader’s emotional interest and attachment to the different characters, mainly so that when something tragic or fatal happens to one or more of the characters, the reader feels it and nearly witnesses it for him or herself.  That is the biggest trial in writing a war story, or at least the biggest thing to strive for.  Tim even mentions that war stories cannot even be described due to many of the emotionally shocking events that happen in them.  Perhaps one of the biggest examples of  showing the severity of war in Tim's story is the part where Rat's best friend, Lemon, steps on a 105 round mine and blows him to pieces; this shows not only the grotesque, sudden-death nature of war, but it also shows how much it changes a person.  After Lemon is killed by the mine, it completely changes Rat and he becomes almost a different soldier for the rest of the story, obviously forming a form of PTSD.  One of the many different techniques that Tim uses in this fantastic writing is the method of almost bouncing all over the place, yet staying in the same atmosphere and setting in his story.  The way I saw it, it was almost like O’Brien was constantly having flashbacks whilst writing his story and sharing them with his reader.  This certainly captivates his readers even more because they are able to see the struggle in simply writing the story.  From the reader’s perspective, it not only forms a greater interest in the events that occur throughout the story, but it almost forms more of a bond between the reader and the writer.  You are able to feel his pain and get a good understanding of what he is doing.   Perhaps the biggest possible explanation for why O’Brien does this in his story is to not directly imply that he has some sort of mental illness that was a result of the war, as a matter of fact I can’t imagine that was his intention at all, but it still strikes on the heartstrings of the reader, and that makes them just that much more interested in the writing of the war story.

PTSD is a War

In Tim O’Brien’s “How to Tell a True War Story”, the author mentions several scenes in order to get his point across. O’Brien’s purpose in writing this chapter is not to necessarily tell others how to literally tell a true war story, but rather what a true war story contains. One scene in particular is replayed the most: Kurt Lemon’s death. The author starts off with as little detail as possible, leaving out Lemon’s name and the cause of his death. Gradually after each flashback, the author adds more and more gory detail. O’Brien’s use of repetition mimics the flashbacks some PTSD victims suffer from. By using this technique, he emphasize the horror of reliving a traumatic event. “The gore was horrible, and stays with me, but what wakes me up twenty years later is Norman Bowker singing “Lemon Tree” as we threw down the (body) parts.” (8)

Throughout the chapter, O’Brien also contradicts himself, constantly describing war as being beautiful and gruesome. “For all its horror, you can’t help but gape at the awful majesty of combat.” (7) He contradicts himself so often, it is almost too confusing for some of his readers. Like many PTSD victims, O’Brien has contradictory thoughts. Is war beauty or gore? Are war stories true or false? (7) PTSD victims often deal with thought after having experienced a traumatic event. For example, many consider taking their own lives for one second and change their minds the very next. Or, they feel lonesome, yet do not like the presence of other people. Although this symptom is not yet explained, many sufferers share mutual feelings about this occurrence. 

O’Brien uses repetition and contradiction to show his sympathy. By describing PTSD victims’ suffering, he wants his audience to realize PTSD is not a joke. Like war itself, Post-traumatic stress disorder is terrifying, indescribable and life-altering. 

Blog 1: The Phycological Effects of War

  In "How To Tell a True War Story", author Tim O'Brien is telling the story of a fallen comrade in Vietnam. His name was Curt Lemon, but before the story, he begins with a heartfelt, extremely emotional letter being written by Lemons best friend Rat Kiley. It is this letter one can almost  materialize the feelings of a solider who is scared and O'Brien then uses that fact over and over that no ones responds to it, which gives the idea of people who have PTSD go seemingly unnoticed. The failure of the sister to respond turns the letter from one of grieving and reconcile to one of pain and guilt that never goes away. From there it becomes a repetition of telling the story of Lemons death in which each time he adds more and more detail. He tells that while playing catch with a smoke grenade, Lemon stepped on a 105 round mine which blew him all over the trees. All the while his best friend watched as his happiness turned to horror in a second. The telling of the story so many times helps show how Rat might feel not only on that day but the rest of his life. He keeps running it through his head over and over and each time noticing more detail and possibly imagining it even worse than it was.

     He will eventually develop a sense of fault in that he could have done more, many who feel this way first try to take it out on something. In Rats case it was a baby buffalo that got the brunt of his anger and frustration. When he is done torturing the buffalo O'Brien states "We had just witnessed something essential, something brand-new, and profound, a piece of the world so startling there was not yet a name for it" That something was the suffering in Rat that he will feel for the rest of his life, those couple of minutes in the jungle just playing catch will haunt him until the day he dies. All war stories are told differently each time but its the details that those who tell them leave out until they build up the courage enough to share them. Those are the parts that run on constant repeat in the mind of a those who suffer from this trauma, and most of the time are the most painful to relive and will try anthing to forget.

O´Brien´s story telling techniques revealing psychological repercurssions of war:

Tim O´Brien´s story telling techniques are quite unconventional as they include repetition and contradiction to name a few examples. Although, regardless of his unique style, he shows a huge amount of honesty and is able to develop a clear picture in the reader´s mind as far as how the locations look, smell, and feel like. He is able to make the characters he mentions relatable and helps us understand or have an idea on the way they feel, or felt like, in a particular point in their life.

Every detail of explanation when O´Brien attempts to make clear certain feelings during certain events, he does it so well, it almost feels like you are there listening to the sounds he mentions, or seeing how in a matter of seconds life and laugher can turn into gore and quiteness, or notice the amount of frustration the characters show as O´Brien talks about what irrational yet honest things they said, or the crazy things they did as a result of a traumatic event. Thus revealing the psychological repercurssions of war in these people as their words and actions are explained in detail by someone who knew them and was there with them. Two key characters in his short story "How to Tell a True War Story" known as Mitchell Sanders and Rat Kiley are the ones in which O´Brien shows a clear focus on to point out these repercurssions as a result of war. Like when Sanders gives a detailed explanation of his perspective towards war giving contradictions that for emotional reasons make sense, and Kiley´s rage as he tortures a baby Buffalo following the death of his best friend, as well as his ranting due to writing to his death friend´s sister about how great her brother was without response. A clear picture of frustration and desperation, of post traumatic stress disorder as a result of war is thus depicted to us in a short yet incredibly well detailed story by Tim O´Brien, and I highly suggest reading it in order to have a better perspective towards what war really is instead of just sticking to the extraordinary and marvelous view built by multiple forms of propaganda in support of it.

Blog 1: Unconventional Techniques

  Tim O’Brien's unique technique use of contradiction revealed how sanity and sense of reality can be pushed and manipulated.  In his story regarding the Listening Patrol that is sent into the peaks of the mountains of Vietnam for a week to search for enemy movement, O’Brien shows the reader how during war sometimes the biggest battles are the ones going on in your head.  Over the week the Patrol starts to imagine that they are hearing the rocks and other non vibrant aspects of the forest.  This starts to push the sanity of the Patrol, they know that it is nothing but, still they call in the air strike.  Their reality had become compromised which along with losing sanity was the psychological repercussion of their war.  O’Brien uses this technique of contradiction because that's what the whole situation was, a contradiction.  O’Brien says in many cases a true war story cannot be believed, and if you do be skeptical.    

With events going on like this during a war, PTSD becomes a more and more predictable result.  There are many different psychological repercussions in war stories, each story different and resulting in different side effects.  For the Listening Patrol it was sanity and sense of reality and sanity, for Rat it was trauma, grief, and also derealization.  Not everyone veteran gets PTSD from these experiences, but the ones that do can usually link the source of the PTSD from the war stories they lived while serving.