How to Tell a True War Story By Tim O’Brien

Tim O'Brien was born in Austin on October 1, 1946 and grew up in Worthington. He was accepted to Macalester College and graduated with a BA in political science in 1968, the same year he received a draft notice. O'Brien was against the war, but reported for service and was sent to Vietnam. His division was involved with the infamous My Lai massacre. He completed his tour of duty in 1970. After he returned from Vietnam he became a graduate student at Harvard. No doubt he was one of very few Vietnam veterans accepted to Harvard, much less one with a Combat Infantry Badge. He was offered a prestigious internship at the Washington Post, and he became a newspaper reporter. He also began to write of his experiences, his memoir If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Send Me Home was his first. He writes fiction as well. O’Brien is now a visiting professor and endowed chair at Southwest Texas State University. He teaches the Creative writing program there. He is also on the advisory board for The Ridenhour Prizes.

Literary Terms Important Quotations

Theme: the central idea, the focal point of a story around which various elements such as plot, character, setting, and point of view revolve; presented explicitly or implicitly; found in the fabric of a story’s elements, not in an attached label Metafiction: a work that explores the nature, structure, logic, status, and function of storytelling “The pictures get jumbled; you tend to miss a lot. And then afterward, when you go to tell about it, there is always that surreal seemingness, which makes the story seem untrue, but which in fact represents the hard and exact truth as it seemed” (558).

“It comes down to gut instinct. A true war story, if truly told, makes the stomach believe” (562).

“Almost nothing is true. At its core, perhaps, war is just another name for death, and yet any soldier will tell you, if he tells the truth, that proximity to death brings with it a corresponding proximity to life” ((563).

Discussion Questions

Please answer two of the following five questions.

1. Trace the narrator’s comments about what constitutes a true war story, especially the statements made on page 479, paragraphs 91 through 93. What do you think these competing and contradictory ideas finally add up to about truth and war?

2. Describe the meaning and importance behind the phrase “You dumb cooze.” 3. Mitchell Sanders stresses the importance of the noise of Vietnam and how one must “listen to your enemy.” Analyze the story he tells about the six-man patrol in paragraphs 19-65 and describe how listening affected the soldiers.

4. What emotions is Rat Kiley projecting onto the baby water buffalo? How does the buffalo’s silence and stillness add meaning to this event?

5. Characterize the narrator. Why must he repeatedly “keep on telling” his war story? How is the psychological aftermath of the Vietnam War portrayed in this story?