Short Story : The War's War

The story begins, with the introduction of Jacob Kitino a wealthy Acholi boy, who is friends with Tony, a poor boy.They are going to school at the “George Jones Seminary for boys school” for the new school semester. They meets a boy, while they were walking at night. Jacob gives the boy money and bread, the the boy ran away, but Jacob never got his name. His name is Oteka, a very smart boy who was walking into Gulu to stay safe from the “LRA kidnappers”. This is considered the “Birth” of the “War Brothers” story because this is how the boys meet and a little bit about their backgrounds. The boys get to there school and they are excited to see each other again. Immediately after arriving they are asked to watch after small 12 year old boy named Norman. Later that night the LRA attaches their school, they break down the door and knocks them unconscious. When they wake up, Jacob and the boys are marching in the forest, tired and hungry. This the “Call to Adventure” because the boys are having a good day at school and next thing you know it all goes bad and they are now LRA soldiers.

“A Splendid Little War” was an alternative title to the Spanish American War named by Ambassador John Hay to his good friend Theodore Roosevelt. This war was one of the shortest wars of all time, lasting only about four months. Surprisingly, the main cause of death in this war wasn’t by being shot, but by dying of diseases such as Yellow Fever, Malaria and other diseases. Only 9,413 Spaniards were killed by wounds and combat and 53,540 were killed by many diseases. In this “Splendid Little War” America was able to free Spain's overseas empire which included Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. The United States was also hungry for foreign good that weren’t available to them in the homeland. After an easy victory over Spain, American was able to control islands in the seas such as Cuba, The Philippines and Guam. After this war, Spain was no longer a world power and the United States was on its way to the top.

The grey sky hung close to 16-year-old Ed and the other soldiers as they stood, lined up in the trench. Rain poured heavily over their helmets, draining into the mud. The French sun hid hazily in the smog-covered sky. THUD THUD THUD, cannons pounded shells through the air, towards the Germans.

Bao Ninh’s The Sorrow of War is a novel that is a personal view of the Vietnam War from the perspective of a Vietnamese soldier. Like the American novel “The things they carried”, this novel brings about the effects of war on people, and especially how it defeats the human capacity for things such as love and hope. Bao Ninh offers this realistic picture of the Vietnam War’s impact on the individual Vietnamese soldier through use of a series of reminiscences or flashbacks, jumping backwards and forwards in time between the events most salient in memory, events which take on a different theme each time they are examined. His main protagonist Kien, who is basically Bao himself, looks back not just at his ten years at

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.

Allegations of sexual harassment are thrown about freely in today’s society and it seems that individuals do not fully understand the gravity of the word or what it actually conveys. Daijah Wilkins, a senior this year explained that until her sophomore year she didn’t fully understand either. She was standing in the hallway when she overheard a teacher, Mrs. O’Conner, tell a couple that she felt sexually harassed by their actions. The couple, as well as Daijah couldn’t understand how that could be possible when the two were simply kissing. After the students explained to Mrs. O’Conner that sexual harassment was only possible if someone physically touched another

The essay “ How To Tell a True War Story” written by O’Brien complexifies the idea of truth by furnishing readers divergent approaches on to tell how if a story is true or not, in which its readers had to utilize their own sense of understanding to interpret what O’Brien was emphasizing about truth. Interpretation is a psychological process, which requires a mental process to make meaning of a text. Stanley Fish, the author of “ How To Recognize a Poem When you See One”argues that the meaning of a text originated from the reader’s recognition and its interpretive communities. Fish, in his essay, I acquired the true meaning of a text originated from the act of reading and its interpretive communities.

Tizbeth hesitated as she looked at the charred cat. It laughed. “Never thought I would come this close to being defeated and they choose to lose.”

Me and a few of the men from my regiment stood on shore while we watched the Virgina attacked Union ships. Boy, was it a sight to see. The Yankee's fought hard, but they where no match for the Confederate ironclad. The cannon balls just bounced off the hull! The Yankees however, did take a hit. It was funny seeing the wooden ships try to compare themselves to the ironclad.

“The Tragedy of war is that it uses man’s best to do man’s worst” wise words from Henry Fosdick. When it comes down to the time where an individual hits rock bottom, a man either do its best or do its worst. Although, Man can do its best and do its worst at the same time. There are many reasons how man’s best can result to man’s worst. Henry Fosdick statement is both true and false.

In the middle of chapter seven, Paul is wandering around on the streets in his military uniform, when he encounters a major that is angry with Paul for not saluting him. The enraged major demands Paul’s credentials, and then he forces Paul to practice marching and saluting. From that point on Paul, distressed because of the incident, decides to wear his civilian clothes while on the street. Despite Paul not wanting to wear his uniform, his father insists that Paul to continue to wear his uniform so that he can introduce Paul to his friends. Later on, Paul, when asked about the war by his mother, lies to her because he does not feel that she would understand what goes on at front. In

“This whole damn house is booby trapped with the stupid things!” He ranted as Andrew calmly examined the canister for dents before placing it on the shelf with the others. “It’s like this house doesn’t even want us here!”

It can be hard to fully comprehend the effects the Vietnam War had on not just the veterans, but the nation as a whole. The violent battles and acts of war became all too common during the long years of the conflict. The war warped the soldiers and civilians characters and desensitized their mentalities to the cruelty seen on the battlefield. Bao Ninh and Tim O’Brien, both veterans of the war, narrate their experiences of the war and use the loss of love as a metaphor for the detrimental effects of the years of fighting.

The Experience Of War Many authors have written about war themes, some extracts of the stories and poems that I have read and researched are The Upturned Face by Steven Crane .It is about a fictional war being fought in an imaginary Europe. Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell describes his senses and feeling of getting shot in the neck during battle. Exposure by Wilfred Owen,describes the horrors and reality of being in the trenches of the First World War. And The Making of Me by Robert Westall is about a shell-shocked grandfather who has the responsibility of looking after his grandchild.