Fiction or Nonfiction, War Has the Same Effect Essays

A true war story is not always true. Some would say a true war story is an experience from war. Others, who came from war, would say they make up stories to make war seem crazier than it really is. Tim O’Brian states that the story is fiction, but the moral is true. Tracy Kidder had written war stories based on his time in Vietnam, and his book is rated as nonfiction, even though he admits that some war stories are made up. Contained within The Things They Carried, is a story by a man named Mitchell Sanders. â€Å"Sanders tells a story about a group of soldiers that camped on a listening mission, and all they did was listen. They heard many different noises, and paranoia hit them. They ordered airstrikes on the motionless, noisy ground, and†¦show more content†¦The fact that Bill’s major wound is from being drunk doesn’t help with the believing part. â€Å"Bill later states that he may have made some pieces up to make his stories sound exciting† (Kidder 8). He doesn’t want to seem like the loser that did nothing in the war. He wants to be the hero, but the more lies he tells, the more he believes them. Between the two stories, they are both believable, but they both have a possibility of being false. In Sanders’ story, â€Å"He explains a very detailed story of soldiers hallucinating strange noises after doing nothing but laying and listening† (O’Brien 74). This seems true because people can tend to go insane if they do nothing for about a week. The piece that makes this unbelievable is the fact that Sanders says he made the story up, but the moral is true. Bill’s story seems true, â€Å"because people do not know what to expect from war, except for dreadful moments, and Bill’s losing of his good friend is a dreadful moment indeed† (Kidder 8). The drawback about Bill’s story is the fact that his greatest wound happened when he was drunk, so the question is if Bill made his story up to make himself look better. According to O’Brien, a true war story isn’t always true. The story can be completely false, but the point the writer/speaker is trying to get across could be the greatest advice a person could receive. The key to listening to a war story is to listen, just like Sanders’ story (O’Brien 74). Also, â€Å"The moral of a true warShow MoreRelatedThe Fiction Of Literature And Literature1548 Words   |  7 PagesThe nonfiction writer sits in a room, at a table, and claims he sees and relates the truth. Through the room’s door comes another. The writer assumes that other sees the same. Rather, that other sees the room’s light reflected differently upon the table’s surface and lines fading to different vanishing points. Despite this, the writer’s account of his sensations is printed and spread and known to his readers as nonfiction, thought to be of truth. Nonfiction, as illustrated, cannot legitimately holdRead MoreTruman Capotes In Cold Blood1591 Words   |  7 PagesAmerican Dream. 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