The way we want to approach personal problems in front of others can have a great influence on our lives and actions. In “How to Tell a True War Story,” Tim O’Brien explores the fallacy storytellers give listeners when deriving a conclusion. This concept is reiterated in Daniel Gilbert’s “Immune to Reality,” where he follows up with conclusions people make during unfortunate events in their lives. Even though each author builds up their essay on different circumstances, both deliberate the outcomes and challenges of remodeling a certain idea, such as those in the meaning of an event or experience. Fulfillment to understand one’s development can challenge the ability to comprehend a problem fully or not. Hence, establishing significance from…show more content… Our brains act to the outcomes, “…people are typically unaware of the reason why they are doing what they are doing, but when asked for a reason, they readily supply one,” (Gilbert 131). This reiterates on war stories, when we hear the word “war,” we imagine blood and gore even though we have never been present during the happening of the war, but we unintentionally feel pain and sympathy. The storyteller has the ability to shape the listener’s experiences and opinions, but especially the listener’s feelings. Likewise, the war alters soldiers’ view of right and wrong, just how O’Brien’s story deforms our views of beauty and ugliness. But the way we interpret a war story is through the techniques the storyteller uses from detailing to characterization. But what happens, after the story is finished? Will listeners still believe the story or will they understand the true meaning behind it? “And in the end, of course, a true war story is never about war… It’s about love and memory. It’s about sorrow” (O’Brien 325). Due to the power a story has to mold a person’s mind, when telling a war story in reality, it is about the anger and the hopelessness of soldiers to deal with their feelings. At the end a war story can be modified for listeners to believe it and interpret the story as
