Tim O Brien's How To Tell A True War Story

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In Tim O’Brien’s “How to Tell a True War Story” there are multiple themes throughout the story. Theme is a repeated idea that is incorporated throughout a literary work. A theme is a thought or idea the author presents to the reader that may be deep or difficult to understand. Generally, a theme has to be extracted from the reader while they explore the passages of a work. While reading “How to Tell a True War Story” the reader will pick up on the multiple themes such as sanity and morals, fear of shame, and physical and emotional burdens. The multiple themes in the story show just how hard and difficult it was during the Vietnam War and being a soldier in a foreign country far away from home. The charters in the story go through many trials and tribulations from losing fellow comrades to being ignored from loved ones back home. Tim O’Brien uses multiple themes to show just hard it really was being in the Vietnam War. …show more content…
Curt Lemon was a character that made his fear of shame a very painful experience. Curt Lemon wants to go to the dentist and have a perfectly good tooth pulled to try and forget his shame about having fainted during a previous encounter with the dentist. The frustration of the war, the abnormality of Vietnam, and the youth of the soldiers’ link and merge to create mental dangers that worsen the risks of fighting in the Vietnam War. This fear of shame not only make some of these men do absurd things, but it also motivates them to join the war. Jimmy Cross is one whose only reason for going to war is because of his friends wanted to go. This decision for Jimmy Cross turns out to be a mistake on his part while he becomes an uncertain leader who puts his comrade’s lives in danger. Tim O’Brien uses these characters to demonstrate that fear of shame is not only misguided but an unavoidable motivation for going to
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