Through the process of searching for the underlying meaning, or theme, of this piece, there are many conflicting ideas, “ . . . the truths are contradictory” (O’Brien 427). It is through the examination of these ideas that sense can be made. “If there’s a moral at all, it’s like the thread that makes the cloth. You can’t tease it out. You can’t extract the meaning without unraveling the deeper meaning”(O’Brien 425-426). In effect, O’Brien delivers a message of life through death, growth through pain, and the beautiful through the horrible. These stories, effectively, become th

Looking further into the narrator’s psyche by using biographical information about the author, gives a clearer perception of what is meant in regards to the theme of the short story. Tim O’Brien was against the war but reported for service. After his time in Vietnam, he became a published writer (Lavelle). In an interview with Martin Naparsteck, a writer and literary critic, he says that the Things They Carried, the collection of stories in which “How to Tell a True War Story” is included, “resists easy categorization: it is part novel, part collection of stories, part essays, part journalism” (Narparsteck 1). Knowing that O’Brien is not only the author but the narrator is evident through the reading of The Things They Carried. Because of this, it is most likely that these stories, in a large part, came from O’Brien’s experiences in Vietnam. O’Brien’s attitudes and experiences during the war largely affect the picture that we get of Vietnam. Being that Tim O’Brien was against the war but had no choice other than to serve, it is obvious that it is necessary to cope by finding peace where there is no peace. That is why he tells these stories.

To further illustrate the psychological perspective relating to theme, examine the story of the six-man patrol that goes into the mountains. They sit there for several days, listening for any enemy movement. Then, they begin to hear things, a cocktail party with music. Finally, after many days of silence they go crazy, hearing things that are not there. They call into the post to report enemy movement, no longer able to handle the effect that the silence has on their minds. Consequently, “They walk napalm up and down the ridges. They bring in the Cobras and F-45, they use Willie Peter and HE and incendiaries. It’s all fire. They make those mountains burn” (O’Brien 424). After the troops are brought in, the soldiers are questioned by their authorities and they do not say anything. Here, O’Brien says that some war stories cannot even be told, but this is a story that Mitchell Saunders, a fellow soldier, told him, and now the narrator is telling the story. Here is another paradox in war. Again, O’Brien is demonstrating that the truths in war are contradictory. In this situation, the soldiers’ minds play tricks on them. Reality cannot be separated from fiction. All that the soldiers can do is get themselves out, not saying a word. They survive by telling and not telling this story.

Through the eyes of a formalist critical strategy, “How to Tell a True War Story” uses language, tone, and structure that are inconsistent throughout the entire piece. There are phrases that are long and drawn out,

Some topics in this essay:
Curt Lemmon’s, War Story”, Finally O’Brien, Curt Lemon, Tim O’Brien’s, Mitchell Saunders, Tim O’Brien, Willie Peter, Looking Lemmon’s, Knowing O’Brien, lemmon’s death, true war, tell true, tell true war, curt lemmon’s, “how tell true, “how tell, true war story”, war story”, water buffalo, tone structure, language tone, curt lemmon’s death, language tone structure, o’brien war,