Close reading of a Passage:
“In many causes a true war story cannot be believed. If you believe it, be skeptical. It’s a question of credibility. 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.”(O’Brien pg. 68)
This quote came from the story “How to Tell a True War Story” By Tim O’Brien. When one is listening to a war story how does one know if it is true or not? More often than not it may seem that the teller of the story is making their story up. Tim O’Brien explains that you have to be “skeptical” (O’Brien pg. 68) when listening to a war story. Meaning, to have some kind of doubt or questions to the story that you are listening to because the story may be a little more beefed up than it really was during the actual event of the story. Also you need to keep an open mind when listening to a war story because, as O’Brien writes in this short story, the crazier the story is the most likely it is true. Some story tellers do this simply to keep the story interesting. Some story tellers are just really dramatic and they want their story to sound good and really life like. Some story tellers may tell you what you want to hear because they do not want to relive the actual event. For whatever the reason how a story is told you will never know the actuality unless you have lived it yourself. As O’Brien writes “Often the crazy stuff is true and the normal stuff isn’t” (O’Brien pg. 68). This makes me as a reader not know the whole truth. Would I believe the craziness? Yes, I would probably believe the craziness because in my own mind war is a place no one knows except for the ones who are actually there. Do I want to hear the truth of what the story teller is saying? I would probably have to say yes because; being in the medical field that stuff interests me. Knowing that war is very difficult for all involved; weather it may be, a friend, a mom, a dad, a brother, a sister, or any persons close to the service men and women, who can say what the credibility of a story teller maybe be. All people deal with war in their own way. As for me I would believe the craziness of any story weather I thought that it was true or not.
Works Cited
O’Brien, Tim. “The Things They Carried.”Mariner Books- Houghton Mufflin Harcourt. Boston
New York.1990.
Hello Shelly, first of all I want to say that I like the quote because it is one that makes the mind bobble back and fort. Then the ideas and reasoning you had behind the quote are very intelligent. I also concede with you on that when one is telling a war story it is easy for one like myself to assume it is real because I personally have no idea of what war is really like. Anyhow, keep up the quality work.
ReplyDeleteI like how the point about how the storyteller might not want to tell the complete truth, but sugar coats it so the audience won't react too much. I can not imagine how hard it would be to relive a gruesome memory over and over, which is why it is better to write it down once in a book. Good luck in your nursing field and I hope that you hear many war stories!
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