Oops!... He did it again

         The other night I went to a sorority party and put on a Welsh accent putting everyone under the impression that I was from Wales. Either I'm a better liar than O.J. fucking Simpson or these girls were the dumbest broads East of the Atlantic. I have been told many a time that I am a compulsive liar, so one could say I lie a lot. This is exciting. Most of the exciting things I hear about are false rumors concerning some made up situation. I live for that shit. I moved my sister’s car down the street one time and told her it got towed. Then it actually did get towed because I accidently parked it in an illegal parking zone. Jackpot. So I didn't actually lie. But I did. Because none of that actually happened. Great stuff. Tim O'Brien is a real asshole. He won't tell me what is true and what isn't. Ideally I would like to have a bit of footing from where I can start my analysis of this book.  However, O'Brien tells a story, a story that I like. Therefore, it doesn't matter if he's lying. One can now learn from this story, because it isn't a true war story, therefore, I would argue, it's worth reading.

         "A true war story... does not instruct. (O'Brien 68)"

         Obviously, as this book is being used in our curriculum, we must have to learn from it. So somethings got to give. Either we can't learn from this story or it isn't true.  Or do we take O'Brien for his word at all? If there is one jump off that we can base our opinions off of, it would be the informative chapters that O'Brien intertwines within the novel.  

         We talked about the dancing in the chapter Style and being a metaphor for this literature.  O'Brien describes a girl dancing after her family was burned and killed. She conveys how the girl danced sideways, backwards, bare feet and on her toes, but all quite gracefully.  O'Brien side steps, leaps backwards and back forward, and all around in his story telling. He keeps you one your toes and sometimes leaves you barefoot with no grasp on what you are actually reading. But the whole time, he does this gracefully. O'Brien's chapter on How to tell a True War Story could have been the name of the book minus the 'True War' part. O'Brien teaches Creative Writing at Texas State University, but could teach Bullshitting 101 anywhere in the country.  There is no getting around it; he hooks you. He tells you straightforward that this story is not true, then he tells you that it is impossible to learn something from a true war story. O'Brien just made the case for how his own work can instruct whoever reads it.  Anything that you can learn from is worth your time whether you think so or not.  Knowledge is power, and the knowledge one can gain from this book is worth a lot more than the $16.23 I paid for it. 

         The most powerful stories we read are the ones we want to believe.  I don't necessarily want to believe Vietnam happened, but I want to believe some of the things O'Brien talks about. Life is war. This is a story about war.  Therefore this is a life story.  Out of context O'Brien says, "A war story is... moral. It does... instruct, encourage virtue... suggest models of proper human behavior... restrain men from doing the things men have always done." His story does all of these things. O'Brien writes this story to show the reader how a story about war can have absolutely nothing to do with a war, and absolutely everything to do with life.