This chapter really resonated with me on several levels. First, I feel such pity for Rat Kiley's frustration at his friend's sister back home. I think part of what O'Brien is attempting to show in the book is the frustration that soldiers feel at not being able to articulate their experiences to others, to make them care. I don't think that the sister is even a necessarily a uncaring, awful person. She may simply not understand, and perhaps that is just as bad. For Rat Kiley it certainly is.
Another part of the chapter that intrigued me was Mitchell Sanders' story of the sounds of Nam (and yes, I know that was a truly awful segue). The personification of Vietnam as a collection of living beings making noises was powerful. The sense of fear and great unknown in the story made it almost like a twisted ghost story. This is not a regular war story about violence, death, destruction, or even really camaraderie. It is a story of the other times filled with a Twilight Zone type of fear because the soldiers could never determine which fears were irrational and which weren't. The lack of any real resolution to this story only continues this sense of panicked confusion.
O'Brien's analysis of this story and other war stories is what fascinates me the most though, because it views literature from a perspective that I had never thought of before. A "true war story", like any piece of literature, doesn't have to be based on reality, because the facts don't matter. The whole basis of literature is then based on shared emotions. For instance, the reason The Awakening grips me is not because of any historical accuracy or the fact that the general plot of the story is in part based on a myth. It grips me because I empathize with Edna's internal conflict and with the well-intentioned cluelessness of her husband, the same way I empathize with the soldiers in Sanders' story. A true war story attempts to convey the bizarre feelings of war. Its 'truth' is derived from the both universal and person gut reactions that you get from it.
I guess for me this was so fascinating because I had never thought of literature as an attempt to communicate things that would otherwise be inexplicable.
The story of the letter reinforces the idea that the experience of war is difficult to communicate to a non-combatant. The sister may not understand the importance of her response to Rat. His story needs to be heard and without a response, it's as if no one is listening.
ReplyDeleteYes! The descriptions of the landscape and the sounds are just chilling! The VC were called "ghosts" because of how they moved and seemed to come out of nowhere. Imagine the terror.
The phrase you used in class was a great one. You said the fictional stories revealed an "emotional truth" that reality did not always convey. And yes, we can apply this idea to all great literature.