Vethuizen's How To Tell A True War Story

In situations that face violence and tragedy, these stories are less accurate and more about explaining the experience these stories have the teller of that story. Violence is a factor in the retelling of events, affecting the accuracy of the storytelling. Vethuizen writes, “Finding the truth is even more of a challenge if it is intentionally hidden or forgotten or manipulated. In the case of dramatic events, such as violent conflict, one may instinctively change the facts to make the experience acceptable to the listener which is always a challenge for research into violent conflict” (Vethuizen 19-20). This is even more clear when the narrator in “How to Tell a True War Story” explains how adding and removing details to the stories

War makes you a man; war makes you dead. The truths are contradictory” (O’Brien 181). The violence that the narrator witnesses and inflicts is part of the reason why his testimonies conflict with each other. Furthermore, these violent experiences shift the truth of these experiences from the actual events that occurred and the “real” truth that is warped by the violence and jumbled memories. Vethuizen explains, “Seeking the truth about violent conflict also requires sufficient time to allow for the discovery of accurate explanations in the space where it happened, to evaluate, analyze, and reflect on all the perspectives and to judge where power relationships and continued strategic contests distort perspectives” (Vethuizen 22). Even as Vethuizen suggests that evaluating the truths told in a story is adjusted because of the violence reflected through their experiences. Even the violence can cause a silence that has no words to describe their story. Sanders tells the narrator, “But the guys don’t say zip. They just look at him for a while, sort of funnylike, sort of amazed, and the whole war is right there in that stare. It says everything you can’t ever say…because certain stories you don’t ever tell” (O’Brien