Exploring the Art of Storytelling

What is a story? A story to me can be either a combination of characters and actions which can be fake or real. More like an adventure story used more for entertainment. Another example can be historical events a serious of events in the past which can be used for future learning. There are many different interpretations for a story. Many ways of telling a story also, for example the usual way of tell a scary story. Being in total darkness with a group of friends around each other and having one flash light for the story teller. It just makes the story a little spookier. Every story has its own unique way of telling it right.
How would you tell a true war story? Well Tim O’Brien writes an example of how to tell a true war story, but he writes

it in a way that can be a little confusing at first. It starts off with a soldier named Rat Kiley writing a letter to a buddies sister telling her what a great brother he had and letting her know that he was an amazing guy and what not. O’Brien says “a true war story should never have a moral, or instruct, nor encourage virtue nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing things they have always done.” What I think O’Brien means with this is that a true war story is not to give a moral lesson or to change a person or man. If a war story gives a lesson or virtue or any kind of moral. That story is not a true story and there is something of that story not being told right. How he says “a true war story can be recognized by absolute uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil. A true war story is just to tell a very specific tragic event, but has to be told how it happened. Neither more nor less than what happened. But really it can be hard to tell a true war story if many things can happen in just seconds and can be missed and also change what could have happened right away.
In a true war story not everything is what seems to be.

Many times in order to make the story seem right there has to be something filled in with a little lie or two. For example in O’Brien’s story rat is the one who writes to the friends’ sister but there was also some other guys who say what happened. One of the other guys tells his version of how the guy died, but he explained more what happened before the death and after. He explains how Rat and his buddy named Curt Lemon where enjoying time together playing with some smoke grenades and how one of them loses their life was pretty descriptive to us. Just that when he describes how Curt’s’ death occurs is a little hard to believe. The reason why I say that is because he describes the guy’s death in a more like romanticized moment for him. He be describes how it was a terrible moment but seamed very different in his words “when he died it was almost beautiful” He was saying how they were in the darkness and Curt stepping on a mine which made him lifted in the air seamed beautiful when the sunlight hit him at the moment of his death. At that moment he basically glorified the way Lemon died. Since he claims he saw the whole thing the part where he describes Lemons death is very skeptical. For me I think he made it up because it’s hard to believe you would see a death in that

way.
You don’t really know what to believe in a war story. Many things seem to be very hard to believe, but usually what is more believable are the most grosses most craziest things than sweetened up moments. Mainly what I’m trying to say is that for example when the soldier is describing lemons death at the moment of the explosion I’m sure he couldn’t have seen what happened since many things can happen in a split second and if he turns away then look back you miss a lot of what happens. Just like what O’Brien says. He says “When a guy dies, like Lemon, You look away and then look back for a moment and then look away again.” In that moment when he was telling the story he didn’t see what happened to he had to make something up in order to complete the story. Many stories are like that, there’s not a complete truth to them there is always something made up if not almost the whole story is false and only a small portion is true. These stories are more to like leave you with and an important event but also to entertain you a little. A true war story is that story where you are feeling so many things mainly grossed out or spooked or get goose bumps, but if in one moment you feel fuzzy or think that is normal. Many war stories aren’t true and are very hard to believe and should not be believed completely. O’Brien gives a perfect example of what can be a true war story where rat tortures and nearly kills a baby buffalo and the guys just watch him do it and say nothing.
A true war story I do agree is very hard to be told.

Many of veterans i've met personally have a different way of living because of what they have experienced and are hard for them to live many horrible memories they have gone through. At first when I didn’t know better and I would meet someone that has served war I would ask them about their experience there. Until one time when I was a little older one of the veterans I met told me that for them the veterans, they will never really tell you what exactly happened because for us the civilized people that haven’t experienced harsh moments. Would be too much to handle and is why they try to avoid telling us those moments even though for them is hard to not think of them. But not long ago I met a guy in school he had just come from Iraq this guy was very much affected by the time he served in war. You couldn’t walk up to him without calling him from his name with some distance from him because he would get startled and try to hurt you because of one incident he went through in war. He would tell us these crazy stories these I did believe where true war stories he didn’t hold anything back we would all sit in class listening to him tell his stories to the professor which also was fascinated and also a little to curious. Well since we were in a class room full of grown men already and the professor himself seamed crazy well was actually he actually felt like telling the story how it was. I don’t really remember the story how it

went or anything but I do remember him telling us that they were in recon and a grenade exploded not far from him who made him that paranoid and is why we had to be careful with him because at any moment he would flip and get violent. Also if anyone near him would make a loud sudden noise he can get startled and lose it.
Many veterans return home with different problems and flashbacks and not tolerable for a civilized life due to what they lived in war. But it is those veterans who lose it which can tell a true war story and tell it how it goes. Not everyone can really tell an actual true war story where you can believe everything that is being told. Not everyone knows how war really is but those who actually live though the war and in the war an live their rest of their lives tormented and traumatized, but be careful if you want to listen to a true war story make sure that the veteran that is telling it is ok with it and will not flip out by telling you everything that actually happened. And this is what I think Tim O’Brien mainly is trying to say, its hard to meet those crazy guys because some fear of what can happen if they ask or say the wrong thing and respond bad. But to actually hear a true war story it is in those who do not hold anything back and can actually manage to tell the story without losing control. But not everything should you believe in a war story because not everything can be true. Since many can try to hold something and or don’t actually see every second and those few seconds they have to fill in with their imagination for you to hear and believe their story they lived through.