Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Contradictions in TTTC
It is human nature to look for ways to generalize or simplify complex situations. However, Tim O'Brien makes the point that with war, generalizing accurately is an impossible task, even though those uninvolved in the war generalize often. To assert this idea, O'Brien deliberately contradicts himself multiple times, "War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; war is drudgery. War makes you a man; war makes you dead" (80). While words like "thrilling" and "drudgery" seem to be opposites, they both make sense when describing war. The paradox of war is too complex of a topic to simplify into one story. Like Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche speaks of in her Ted Talk, it is dangerous to know only one story. Tim O'Brien uses contrasting words to show various aspects of the war to his audience and by doing that he has introduced the audience to the possibility other "stories."
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I like how Caleigh described O'Brien's thought process. I agree with her that a large part of this work is meant to show that war is complex and confusing. It often has no obvious point to those on the ground and sometimes seems to have no end. O'Brien wishes to show the rawness of what it means to be at war, rather than glorify and simplify it as other war books do. His use of paradox is meant to show the confusion and emotional distress that soldiers go through every day. He comments on the beauty of some moments, focusing on sun rises over villages. At other times, he describes gory details of death and battle. He wishes to show war as exactly what it is- total confusion.
ReplyDeleteI find part of O'Brien's contradictions, beyond fleshing out the complexity of war, serve to toy with the reader, making them question what the truth really is. As you mention, there is not one truth of war. War is thrilling for boys who have not experienced the loss of a best friend to the grenade of an enemy or the loss of innocence in killing a man. War is drudgery to men to whom it has lost all romanticism. In the story "How to Tell a True War Story," O'Brien contradicts himself. He begins by saying, "this is true," a statement in itself the provokes question from the reader. He then goes on to say that a true war story is a mix of truth and perception, indicating that his "true" war story is altered by perception, making it not complete truth.
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