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Dylan O Brien How To Tell A War Story Analysis

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Dylan O Brien How To Tell A War Story Analysis
Dylan O'Brien's essay, “How To Tell A War Story” begins with a story of his friend “Rat” who writes a letter to a fallen soldier's sister. After two months, the “dumb cooze” (O’Brien) never responds, and Rat is outraged. O’Brien then interrupts his storytelling to inform the reader that “[a] true war story is never moral” (O’Brien). Throughout the essay, O’Brien switches between a series of his personal interconnected stories from Vietnam, to stating his opinions on what forms a true war story. O'Brien shows the juxtaposition between war and storytelling to prove that no story is every completely true, especially when it comes to war, as stories can only be portrayed as truthfully as the individual experienced them, or how truthfully the author
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