How To Tell A True War Story

The story starts off with "this is true," which leads me to be believe that the story that is about to be told is probably outlandish and unbelievable, otherwise why would their be such a need for a disclaimer at the very beginner.

I found that this story really touched me, and I really liked it. I liked Rat Kiley.

Anyways, the narrator lapses into a story about Rat Kiley being in the war, and his best friend, whose also fighting in the war, gets killed. He writes a letter to his friends sister, and pours his heart out into it, saying how much he loved him, and how they were best friends. Rat mails the letter, and waits two months for the girl to write back, but she never does. And he gets upset and calls her a cooze (which I didn't know what that meant until it was explained to me).

I was thinking about the perspective of Curt Lemons sister, and if she realized whether or not that would affect Rat Kiley by not writing back. Or if she didn't ever receive the letter. Or possibly, she read it and thought it was touching, but was too caught up in the death of her brother to send a response. She'll never realize how the fact that she didn't respoond could affect Rat Kiley. I doubt she'd be a "cooze" on purpose and not respond out of bitterness.

Anyways, the narrator is telling the reader the requirements of telling a true war story. How a true story never ends, how it's difficult to believe, how there is no virtue or sense of upliftment when you tell a true war story. I really liked the narrators description of how to tell a true war story, although I can't really seem to figure out why. Possibly because he throws out all the other few war stories I've ever read out of the window, because they don't meet the requirements of his idea of a war story.

Friends and Enemies

Let's talk about Enemies first.

So these guys Dave Jensen and Lee Strunk get into a fist fight over a missing jack knife, and Dave is huge, so he ends up "winning" the fight, breaking Strunks' nose. But then Dave gets all paranoid about Lee's whereabouts and actions, I presume, and ends up going into a fit of passion and breaks his own nose, so that they'll be even, deleting the need for Lee to end up getting Dave back.

Friends:

So now Dave and Lee from the previous chapter come to trust each other a great deal, and make a pact about how if the other person got "totally fucked up" (i.e. getting shot in a way that would make them wheelchair bound), they would end their life for them. But then Lee gets shot in the leg, and tells Jensen not to kill him, and makes him swear

On THE Rainy River

( ok, so the thing for the discussion questions says the title for this chapter is "On A Rainy River" but it's definitely "On THE Rainy River.")

The chapter starts off with the lines "This is one story I've never told before. Not to anyone. Not to my parents, not to my brother or sister, not even to my wife." I suppose that's supposed to make the reader more engaged and feel more "intimate" with the narrator of this story, as if he's telling you some deep secret and you get to pride yourself on being on the receiving end of this story. (Why yes, I am rolling my eyes.)

Anyways, this guy Tim O'Brien tells us this deep dark secret about how he got drafted or some nonsense to go to the army, and wanted to chicken out and jump ship to Canada (which I would've totally done) but decides to go to the war because he's too scared to look like a coward, which is essentially this giant oxymoron, or paradoxical statement.

NO, I do not know the significance of why he insists of telling about his dead-end, thankless job working cleaning out the viscera of dead pigs. It was hard for me to see any significance within this description, because I found it revolting, but I couldn't really find any deeper meaning within the laborious process of his job.

Anyways, he meets this old guy, and they chill for awhile while he's contemplating whether or not to go to Canada. In the end, O'Brien cries about it, but ends up going to war, because he couldn't bring himself to go through with the plan to tramp it to Canada.

POOR TIM.

"Love" and "Spin"

The chapter "Love" is a very short chapter, told from the perspective of an unknown narrator(?), giving insight into the loved things and emotions of the soldiers, talking about the special objects that the soldiers carried to make them feel more at home, and brings more insight about Jimmy Cross's feelings about Martha. I found this chapter to be insightful, although it didn't serve much purpose to me.

"Spin" puts a new perspective, or "spin" on the war as a whole, telling stories of peace. I also found it was a chapter that lacked substance, besides some more background information into the soldiers lives.