Can You Tell a True War Story? Tim O’Brien’s short story “How to Tell a True War Story” is his fictional depiction of one of the narrator’s experiences in the Vietnam War. This first person account of a tragic death of a friend is the example that the author uses to prove his theme of the impossibility of being able to actually express a true war story. By writing many separate narratives …showed first 75 words of 961 total…

…showed last 75 words of 961 total…war story. His ironic title and tremendous effort of the narrator to avoid this fate are not enough to prevent the fact that it is completely hopeless to even try to explain every aspect of a true story. O’Brien’s creative literary technique is a very strategic way of subtly proving his theme in an fascinating way and with each of his attempts at writing the story, his point is even more greatly strengthened.