"How to Tell a True War Story" pages 67 - 85

(1) Why does this story begin with the line: "This is true"? How does that prepare you, as a reader, for the story? In what sense is "this" true?

(2) In this story O'Brien relates a number of episodes. What makes these episodes seem true? Or, to put it another way, how does O'Brien lull you into the belief that each of these episodes are true?

(3) Find a few of O'Brien's elements of a "true war story" (such as, "A true war story is never moral.") Why does O'Brien believe these elements are important to a "true" war story?

(4) In what sense is a "true" war story actually true? That is, in O'Brien's terms, what is the relationship between historical truth and fictional truth? Do you agree with his assessment that fictional truth and historical do not need to be the same thing?

(5) According to O'Brien, why are stories important? In your opinion, what do we, as people, need from stories--both reading them and telling them?

(6) Why is the baby water buffalo scene (85) more disturbing than the death of one of O'Brien's platoon members, Dave Jensen (89, top of page)?

(7) Why does Rat Kiley kill the baby water buffalo? Explain the complex emotions he experiences in this scene.

(8) On page 90, O'Brien explains that this story was "not a war story. It was a love story." In what sense is this a "love story"? Why?

(9) Finally, O'Brien says that "none of it happened. None of it. And even if it did happen, it didn't happen in the mountains, it happened in this little village on the Batangan Peninsula, and it was raining like crazy..." If O'Brien is not trying to communicate historical fact, what is he trying to communicate? Why change the details? What kind of truth is he trying to relate, and why is this truth set apart from historical truth? Is it OK that this "true" war story may or may not be entirely true?

(10). Both authors use their actual experience in war to create believable accurate stories about war.

Draw at least five connections between what O'Brien is saying in this chapter and how Remarque told the war story of All Quiet on the Western Front.

Record your points of comparison and observations with page numbers for each novel (minimum five points of comparison and ten specific pieces of evidence).