Understanding

The narrator in this story is thinking back and remembering his time in the Vietnam War. That is the only absolute fact we can rely on, and whether or not the instances are accurate or realistic is another story within itself. O’Brien’s language is imbedded with subtleties and the way the novel is structured allows us to take a guess about how we are supposed to read it.

The first time I read through this novel, I do not think I understood what he was going for. I thought it was a well-written war story; yes, the parallelism between the narrator and the author was a bit unsettling, but I took each story at face value, not stopping to realize I was no better than the old woman who did not usually enjoy war stories. I did not see how the passage about the baby water buffalo was about love, I do not know if I even now fully understand even though I know the narrator’s intention. I think the understanding or, rather, the lack of can be based on the idea that only those who have lived through war can understand it. I think that maybe people who fought in the Vietnam War, or even the current war, would understand the emotion and meaning behind the metaphors, morality or immorality, and why things simply are accepted because it was, or is, war. There was no other option, no other way to pass the day or deal with guilt. We know that the story is fiction, and he reminds us in a later chapter, but the ideas are still present and we feel the same guilt, fear, and sadness the foot soldiers do because by reading into these stories, we are closer to understanding and then holding the burden.

And then, there is the whole idea about trying to get the story across right, and if it is even true or just modified by our memory. When you are involved in a car accident and you are asked to review exactly what happened after, scenes and clips are missing. There is no way to know exactly how one reacted or what occurred. We modify what happened based on assumptions- based on a simple picture we cannot remove from our minds. In the text the narrator informs us that these stories have been told and retold countless times and we can ask why. He even repeats the picture that he cannot remove from his head, like Kurt Lemon’s body in the trees, or the star-shaped hole. The rest, and what happened in between snapshots is up to our minds and our memories. We can continue a story even if the characters are dead because we know what they could have done, or what they would have said at a particular moment. And just because it may not have physically happened, the idea happened, the thought occurred, which keeps the memory and story of these people alive and true. The details are not what are important—it is emotional connection we make that lasts. The stories just help us ground these emotions.