Chapter/Story #7: How to Tell A True War Story and #8: The Dentist

The How to Tell A True War Story required me to slow down my reading pace and actually think about O' Brien was saying. It seemed like he kept on adding new characteristic to a true war story and that confused me. First he said that a true war story is never moral and does not instruct. It's funny because the true war stories O' Brien tells kind of instruct me but I think he is saying that a true war story intentions are not to instruct. Then he went on to say a true war story is unbelievable because "it's a question of credibility" and that the crazy stuff is true but the normal stuff isn't. I find this to be true about different stories other than war stories, you always question the credibility after. O' Brien repeatedly mentions Curt Lemon's death and emphasizes how the sunlight shined on him before he died, which may be the reason why he thinks Lemon's death was beautiful. I still find that weird though. O' Brien goes on to say that it's difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen in any war story, especially a true one. I guess this is why it is still hard till the day he wrote this understand Curt Lemon's death. Even though it made it harder for me to understand, I liked how O' Brien kept jumping from the topic of a general true war story to actual true war stories and just war stories that he makes up. Even though Mitchell Sanders story about a six man patrol that goes up into the mountains on a basic listening-post operation. I actually believed the story at first for some odd reason and I found it amazing that the rocks and other things of nature made all these sounds. I found the fact that Rat Kiley kept shooting the baby water buffalo to be despicable and I understand that he was feeling grief  but that doesn't give him the right to shoot a innocent animal. With all the contradictions that O' Brien presents about war, I can tell that he learned to deal with war and find out its' true characteristics. I can understand how war is nasty but also fun, thrilling but also drudgery, can make you a man but also dead, and that war is "mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love". O' Brien emphasizes the fact that war makes you appreciate life more and live more. You don't realize how precious your life is until you're close to death. At the end of the story, readers can assume that the story about Curt Lemon's death is true because he compares the facts about it to the characteristics of a true war story. He calls the story of Lemon's death a love story because it provides him with a powerful memory and a love for stories that is close to timeless.



I don't really have much to say about the story "The Dentist" except that Curt Lemon is a weird character. I kind of view him as insane for enjoying pain so much. I think I would find it interesting to be in his presence and see the crazy things he does. It would be amusing.