Making up the Truth

“Almost everything is true. Almost nothing is true.” As I read this seemingly paradoxical statement, my mind wandered. What did this mysterious line mean? How could something be true and false at the same time? As I read the story about Curt Lemon and Rat Kiley, the answer seemed to be obvious.

             The story of and following Curt Lemon’s death highlights the misery of war. Lemon, after stepping on a mine, almost dies “gracefully” because of the beautiful scenery with stunning flowers and majestic trees in the background. Rat Kiley, in turn, mourns the death of his friend by slowly annihilating a baby buffalo. The readers feel pity for the baby buffalo and for the soldiers. O’Brien makes his readers sympathize with the characters and makes it seem like the reader is caught in the crossfire by describing the death, brutality, and gore in painstaking detail.

            After explaining the story, O’Brien reveals that the story is a fiction. He will add and subtract a few details to get to the real truth, or the moral. According to O’Brien, lying about the story will more effectively make the reader understand the point of the story because it will directly point them to the true meaning of the untruth. As we come to find out, this story is not about war, but rather, about remembrance and friendship. As O’Brien points out, this is a method to make people truly listen to the story, and not absorb the evident superficial information. By lying, O’Brien effectively plays his readers into what he actually means, because the truth alone is not sufficient.