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A Literary Analysis of How to Tell a True War Story

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A Literary Analysis of How to Tell a True War Story
A Literary Analysis of How to Tell a True War Story The short story that will be discussed, evaluated, and analyzed in this paper is a very emotionally and morally challenging short story to read. Michael Meyer, author of the college text The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature, states that the author of How to Tell a True War Story, Tim O’Brien, “was drafted into the Vietnam War and received a Purple Heart” (472). His experiences from the Vietnam War have stayed with him, and he writes about them in this short story. The purpose of this literary analysis is to critically analyze this short story by explaining O’Brien’s writing techniques, by discussing his intended message and how it is displayed, by providing my own reaction, and by proposing why this story has withstood the test of time and is worthy of inclusion in an anthology. The writing techniques used within this short story will be discussed first. O’Brien uses various writing techniques for the construction of the language. He uses informal diction and colloquial diction. Meyer states that informal diction “represents the plain language of everyday use, and often includes idiomatic expressions, slang, contractions, and many simple, common words,” and that colloquial “refers to a type of informal diction that reflects casual, conversational language and often includes slang expressions” (1619-1620). The characters in O’Brien’s story speak with an extremely conversational style, and O’Brien uses lots of military slang. He uses informal diction whenever he is telling the war stories or paraphrasing his friends’ stories, and an example of the colloquialism within this story is when O’Brien has Mitchell Sanders say, “They bring in the Cobras, and F-4s, they use Willie Peter and HE and incendiaries” (476). In addition, O’Brien uses middle diction, which Meyer states “maintains correct language usage, but is less elevated than formal diction” (1620). O’Brien’s narration in between war stories and


Cited: Meyer, Michael. The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006. O’Brien, Tim. “How to Tell a True War Story.” The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature. 7th ed. Ed. Michael Meyer. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2006. 473-481. SparkNotes LLC. “The Things They Carried: Themes, Motifs, and Symbols.” 2008. 8 Nov. 2008.
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