Letters From The Trenches Narrative Report

Within the chapter “How to Tell a True War Story,” O’Brien writes about a story that Mitchell Sanders recounts to be true. The surrealist part is when Sanders talks about how they heard noises within the forests of Nam. Sanders says, “...but after a while they start hearing -you won’t believe this- they hear chamber music… Then after a while they hear gook opera and a glee club…” (Pg. 71). When he says this he is really adding details to pad the story up. Like when Sanders say, “The whole country. Vietnam. The place talks. It talks. Understand? Nam - it truly talks.” (Pg. 71). He means to say that he added those things that they heard because there were sounds they heard that couldn’t be explained. Later on he says that those things they heard

upon the men along side me. Some of the men so I have been told have

Being in these trenches are not only dark, wet and smelly, but there are rats everywhere. These rats are not normal size they are the size of cats. They feed off of the dead bodies in the trenches. One of my fellow cabin mates is in charge of killing the rats. Yesterday I witnessed a rat eating his way through a human body while that person was still alive. These rats are causing as much stress as the Germans. Rats are not the only pests in the trenches. Another pest is lice. I cannot stop itching my head and body. The lice have affected everyone. I hope this letter finds you well. Please pray for me. Your son

Description of Life in the Trenches You might be thinking that life in trenches was non-stop death, violence, and pain. But have you ever thought about why? Or what do soldiers do in their trenches when they're not fighting or dying? Do you always trust sources when you read them? Do you always believe what they say on television documentaries?

Trenches varied from eight to six feet in height. In these waterlogged trenches, there was a need for extra support wood boards were placed on the side and on the floor for a safe area for walking. The Soldiers stood no chance against the diseases. Body lice were among one of the diseases that traveled among the trenches the most. Body lice caused scratching and led to trench fever. Fifteen percent of sickness was from body lice (Simkin).Trench foot was another disease found in the trenches. After hours of standing in waterlogged trenches, the feet would begin to numb, change color, and swell, and this would soon result in amputation.

These endless zigzag trails were the soldiers’ home for as long as they were assigned duty to them. The trenches were often infested with “rats and lice… ‘There are millions! Some are huge fellows, nearly as big as cats…’ The soldiers often went weeks without washing or changing clothes, and most were infested with body lice” (Newman 141). Conditions were so wet and dirty and the men had to live with it. As a result of the wet and dirty conditions, many soldiers got ‘trench foot’. “Their feet swelled up to two or three times their normal size and went numb…but when the swelling went down, the pain was agonizing.

     According to the author Tim O’Brien, people tend to readily accept the ‘facts’ presented of what happened during a war. People do not consider the existence of fallacies regarding the actual stories of what happens in wars, few consider that the ‘facts’ of an incident often change through people’s words. The film ‘Saving the Private Ryan’ by Steven Spielberg features both facts and seemingness part of the war story. Since it is so difficult to fully describe a war using human language, Spielberg ended up revising his stories to make sense out of it. Spielberg included parts that did not occur or exclude parts that did occur in order to make their stories seem more credible. According

Have you ever been hesitant to share a true story because you suspected that it would appear as a fabricated anecdote to your audience? Well, most of the time we add bunch of things or change a true story to make it sound genuine to our audience. We live in a judgmental and complex world where lying has become a part of our daily lives. Because of this habit, it is hard to differentiate the truth from a fabricated lie. Since I was a child, my parents always talked about battle of Adwa and many events that took place centuries ago. It is always amusing to listen to those stories because it is about heroic act that most of the kings of Ethiopia accomplished. Although I heard different versions of these stories, I always tend to believe my parents’ version. The reason is not simply the credibility of my parents’, but the way it was presented. According to the short story, “How to Tell a True War Story” by Tim O’ Brien, a true war story is hard to accept as true because some of the most agonizing parts are true, while some of the natural parts are not. Tim O’Brien’s narrative shows that a storyteller has the power to shape listeners’ views. We can change our perception because of the story teller, and neglect the fact that we are avoiding the actuality. Therefore by listening to different versions of a story, it will actually help the reader find greater truth of the story.

A true war story is rather difficult, if not impossible, to share when it goes beyond one’s imagination. Regarding such a story, one morally sound aspect about it is that it lacks morality or meaning to it. Extracting facts from a true war story is a daunting task because what seems to happen is what actually occurs. In what is to follow, I will tell one awful true war story.

I don’t know what i’m thinking. What I want to do is very dangerous and could get me killed. I’m a three month pregnant girl who wants to keep my child but jewish children are being round up by the nazis and sent to “children camps” to be trained and re-educated, I have no idea what to do so I tell my best friend, Lena, she tells me to tell Siegfried. The only thing about that is that i'm scared for his reaction, he is a nazi soldier who is by law not supposed to be fraternizing with me, however I promised myself that when he comes back from his delivery detail I will tell him. Siegfried then comes back and I tell him that I am pregnant, he tells me that everything will be ok and that we will take things day by day. I believe him when he tells

Meanwhile, a specific sergeant tried to make my life harder. This sergeant enjoyed agonism which “occurs among those who enjoy fighting for its own sake and who perceive trading insults as a type of game” (p.21). I constantly tried to filter out the words being filled in my head, but my internal dialogue had been so negative and judgmental for so long I really believed the bad things. I could not and did not understand that I was good person with many good characteristics. I was fighting 2 wars in a combat zone, one against terrorists in the desert and the other inside my head.

It is still hard to adapt too. Whenever it rains it like a flood in the trenches it becomes muddy and it stinks badly. It takes a long time for the water to dry and because of this, many soldiers including my close friend, Henry are getting trench- foot because it’s hard to keep your legs dry. Luckily, Walter and I didn’t get trench-foot yet. When the trenches have too much water we use an baler to get the water out of the trenches. Also, because of the rainfall, many soldiers including us get a cold or the flu. Now Walter and I both don't have the flu or the cold but other soldiers still have them. Rat infestations is another main reason why living in trenches is horrible. The rats will eat scrap foods and dead bodies found on the trenches floor. While having a dose, they will crawl on our faces and bite our feet. The rats will grow to the size of a cat! We tried everything that we can, to get rid of those pests. We used gunfire, a bayonet and even tried hitting them to death but they never die because “a single rat couple can produce 900 offsprings per year”. Cooties is a big problem found in trenches and by far is the biggest problem that is affecting me. “Since there aren't any proper washing facilities” lices start to appear all over the body including the hair and they start sucking the blood. We even have chores to do. Every soldier will be assigned a task. Today my task was to “repair the duckboards on the floor of the trench”. Which was really hard because there are so many dead bodies, rats and frogs on the floor. I and many other soldiers including Walter don’t get enough sleep because of the amount of work we need to do in the trenches and the amounts of noises surrounding the trenches. The only way that I can have a kip is if I take a shot of

turning my head again I saw Simon dive to my aid. He did not utter a

In the beginning of this chapter it shows that Himmelstoss wants to get on good terms after the bombard in the trenches. Also Paul, Leer, and Kropp swim and meet three women. The boys are interested in the girls and break the rule of swimming across the canal. Paul gets in trouble and has to head home. Sadly, Paul finds out that his mother is sick and has cancer. After Pauls return home he doesn’t feel right, his home doesn’t feel like a home. Once his parents start asking him questions about his time during the war, he can’t put it to words. Paul wants to find the youth and child-like persona he used to have. Its just he has been wiped away and the identity of a solider is what he is. Later on in the chapter it turns out that Kantorek has

In return, Germany promised that they would help Mexico win back its “lost provinces” in the American South west. President Wilson could not longer keep the peace, so he went before congress and asked for a declaration of war. On April 6 of 1917, the president signed the declaration of war. It thrust Americans into the deadliest war the world had yet seen(Davidson, Castillo, Stoff, page 578).      The first American troops reached France in June of 1917.