The Subtle Truth

The evident psychological repercussion that O’Brien reveals by contradiction and repetition is confusion.  O’Brien explains that what goes on in war stories is not easily explainable.   He starts his story off by telling his account of Curt Lemon’s death.  What’s interesting is O’Brien tells this account differently through the eyes of a couple soldiers.  In each account, the way and place in which Lemon died was unalike.  I believe O’Brien did this to point out that the actual story wasn’t important.  This is because as time goes by, it’s hard to recollect the details that occurred in each event. However what’s important and easy to remember was the message behind the story.  Love, Sorrow and fear were significant ideas featured in each narrative.  When those ideas are combined, it’s easy to see how PTSD can trigger major anxiety from war.  The other unconventional technique used in “How to Tell a War Story” is contradiction.  This technique was seen in O’Brien’s account of Rat’s encounter with the water buffalo.  Rat befriends the animal by stroking its nose. Then suddenly Rat brutally tortures the animal. This event happens days after Lemon dies. It is as if the repercussion of Lemon’s death is Rat’s sorrowful, confused state of mind.  Lemon’s death had a domino effect.  The way Rat tortured the buffalo left his peers in disarray.  War Stories are not about details, but rather the perceived truth that is subtle, and hard to find.