Importance+of+the+Memoir

**The Importance of the Memoir **



Tim O'Brien shows the importance of his subject in his memoir, "How to tell a True War Story", using repetition and details. He also displays his emotions on the subject to captivate the readers and uses great descriptions in order to get his message across.


 * Shows importance by using:**
 * Repetition
 * Detail
 * Emotions

He explains the right way to write a true war story using Bob Kiley's experiences at the war front." I had a buddy in Vietnam... A friend of his gets killed..." In his reinterpertation of Bob Kiley's story helps the reader see what an actual war story sounds like. However, he also lets one know that a true war story doesn't always have a point to it. " " He often repeats " In a true war story..." to give examples to the readers of how to tell apart a true story from a fake one.

"Often in a true war story there is not even a point, or else the point doesn't hit you until twenty years later, in your sleep, and you wake up and shake your wife and start telling the story to her, except when you get to the end you've forgotten the point again"(7). Here he displays the emotions you live after a war has occured and you've lived through the reality of what war is.

"War is hell,but that's not the half of it,because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love. War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; war is drudgery. War makes you a man; war makes you dead"(6). O'Brien points the exact emotions that come about when you are at war and even after the war has ended these emotions stay with you forever. <span style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-SIZE: 120%; COLOR: #418d9b; FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left"><span style="DISPLAY: block; FONT-SIZE: 110%; COLOR: #0270ed; FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif; TEXT-ALIGN: left">