What I Think Tim O'Brien is Doing

           When I first started this book, it appeared to be a simple, albeit beautifully written, work of fiction. However, as the book continued and the author introduced himself as the main character, I grew confused. Was this a work of fiction? Was it all true? Did Tim O’Brien simply enjoy fucking with us? I started looking for a purpose in the confusion. While I’m sure there are many, I was able to discern one that I thought was extremely important. Tim O’Brien seems to be saying that it doesn’t matter if a war story actually happened or not: “A true war story, if truly told, makes the stomach believe” (74). Fancy words are unnecessary, as are beautiful ideas. What Tim O’Brien wants to tell the reader, or at least what he told me, is that war stories never have a point, because war doesn’t have a point. As he states, “a true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done” (65). What this meant to me was that O’Brien doesn’t want his readers to come away from the book feeling like war can be justified or that war is completely terrible. What came across to me from just reading the first eighty-five pages was the feeling that although “war is hell…that’s not the half of it, because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love” (76). All the war stories that try and pigeonhole the feelings of war cannot truly describe the experience because they refuse to acknowledge the good and the bad. After discerning this concept, I thought back to the confusion between fiction and non-fiction, and decided that perhaps it truly does not matter. As long as someone somewhere has felt the same feelings and frustrations that the fictional men experience, the reader should not feel cheated or confused as to whether the book is true. Truth is found in the emotions and humanity of the men, not in their specific actions.