Mystery

There are many themes that appear in O'Brien's narratives.  Many of the characters portray courage and faith.  Even though these characters know they can die at any second, they mysteriously show the persistence needed to go on.  They each believe they'll make it out of the war, despite the dangerous conditions they face.  The soldiers even play games on missions, which personify their inner strength.  Another theme that O'Brien uses is mystery.  He explains that every time a war story is told, it is usually changed.  He writes that as an event happens, somehow each of the soldiers see it in a different way. For example, when Lemon dies, some soldiers see light appear, some look away, and others don't even see him die.  The story reads "When a guy dies, like Lemon, you look away and then look backfor a moment and then look away again. The pictures get jumbled; you tend to miss a lot."  Some things that happen in war are just so unexplainable.  So as stories are retold, veterans tell their narratives in ways that they imagine are close to reality.  If you think about it, O'Brien and all vets are portraying courage just by retelling their stories.  It is hard to keep re-imagining yourself in such a scary situation, so it takes guts to be able to retell each occurrence.