A True War Story

A true war story, according to O’Brien, is a story that is so gritty, so graphic, and so heartbreaking that by the end the audience can’t even form a response. A true war story is something that makes you feel so deeply that you can feel it in the pit of your stomach. At first, it seemed as if the only thing the audience could feel out of a true war story was pain. But then, it becomes so much more than pain, it becomes beautiful chaos. War being described as beautiful troubled me too, but as O’Brien described it, like finally being able to see the world for what it truly is, well that’s beautiful.

In a true war story you can feel and see war as a soldier sees it, for all that it entails. His or her struggles, failures, and observations of the land are all important to this story. All these aspects of the chaos that war consists of are necessary, but nothing more necessary than the absolute truth. The truth of war is a story that doesn’t need a play-writer, or a director, because the truth is so profound and insane, that rewriting it would never be able to compare and touch lives like what is actually happening on those battlefields and trenches with people who are now your family.

O’Brien mentions something about true stories, a difference between the ones that didn’t happen and the ones that did. He describes a true war story as one where you connect with the people in the story. The descriptiveness of a man’s face, expression, posture and attitude can make or break a story. Without the details of the people, the details of their surroundings and actions seem less real, almost unbelievable like it was made up. He tells us that it’s the people and their connections with others that are the true story. It is their families back home that they are fighting for, and their loved ones. I never thought I’d realize this but I can see how all of the actions in war, is done for love. Someone protecting another, or best friends and brothers who always have your back. All of these different connections and feelings of sorrow for the lost, and appreciation for the living that still continue to fight are the stories worthy of being told.

A true war story needs to be told, but maybe what will get people to listen like O’Brien says so sternly no one will do, is to take war out of the story for a little while. Tell the story of your friend, who you loved dearly, and all about him and others that made these memories so great, or even weird, whatever was most unique to them. Then, after all those things, mention the cruel realization that all of this happened during a time of war, and something so beautiful, such as life, was lost because of it. By starting with the good things, maybe it will make people fully hear the “point” of the story, which is love, and why we people would give their lives to keep it.