Tim O'Brien

    I think that in order to write about war and what they went through in a war zone, they would have to mix some truth and some fiction together.  Not for the sake of the writer, as it is for the reader.  I do not believe the general public can handle the real truth about what a solder has to do, or is instructed to do by our government. And then be judged by the people who sent you over there, for what you had to do to survive.  For a Solder, it is kill or be killed. Their life and survival depends on the guns, bullets, bombs, and death.

   To come home and write about the war and what you experienced over there would be hard.  I think it is a delicate balance of the truth, reality and morals; enough to give the readers somewhat of a glance into combat, but not the full truth. I feel the full truth would disgust the readers.  While I was reading “How to tell a true war story” I felt he wanted to give us more of the truth, and I also felt he needed to get it out, in the public for his own personal mental health. But at the same time, I felt he was trying to protect us from the truth as well.  It must be very hard for a solder to be raised with good moral values as a child, and then be sent away into a war zone as an adult.  To a horrid place they must live each day, to the opposite of the way they were raised.

Word Count 272