Blog #7 - The "truth" in O'Brien's Story

The purpose for writing this blog is to find out the "truth" from O'Brien's essay entitled "How to Tell a True War Story". To be honest, I loved the story and the way the author elaborately talks about war and how it is both beautiful and ugly at the same time. I enjoyed the story about Rat and how his best friend, Lemon, died. I pitied Rat when he poured his heart and soul into writing the letter for "cooze" and never receiving a reply. Even though the details about the water buffalo were disgusting, it made the essay rich and brought the events to life.

However, I do not understand what I'm supposed to label as the "truth" in this story. Based on my understanding of the reading, the "truth" is that war is crazy. O'Brien says, "If a story seems moral, do not believe it" because the actual events usually get mixed up in our heads and when it comes time to say it, it comes out another way. In other words, the truth is contradictory.