Not Just War Stories

In class we discussed the meaning behind this book or what the purpose of the book is. I initially thought the book acted as a coping mechanism for the author Tim O'Brien, so he could talk openly about what happened in Vietnam. This seemed like a clear answer because of the similarity of this fictitious book to a memoir of war stories. However at the end of the book, he introduced Linda. After Linda was brought in, O'Brien started talking about the impact stories can have on people. On page 213, he writes "stories can save us... in a story, which is kind of like dreaming, the dead sometimes smile and sit up and return to the world". He repeats this idea on page 230 when he describes how he used stories to bring Linda alive in his sleep.

At the end of the book, the point of the story seems to be more about bringing memories to life, so maybe the book isn't exactly about coping, maybe it's about reliving. Reliving could include coping, but coping reminds me of something you have to deal with, and reliving seems more celebratory. Right in the beginning of the book, O'Brien describes the purpose of stories. He writes "sometimes remembering will lead to a story, which makes it forever" and "stories are for joining the past to the future... for those late hours in the night when you can't remember how you got from where you were to where you are. Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story" (36). Janelle (I think) said something in class about this book is less about Vietnam, and more about the stories that are just told in the setting of Vietnam. These aren't just war stories, they're a recreation of memories, people and emotions. These war stories have meaning that isn't apparent at first.