‘Lemon Tree’ - how could this link with the Vietnam War?

‘How to Tell a True War Story’

The idea of truth...

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Step 1: Define the term ‘true’.What are the connotations associated with this word?

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Step 2: The story begins with a one sentence paragraph,“This is true.”

What does it make you think? Why?

As the story continues, O’Brien explains his ideas of ‘A True War Story’ as well as giving voice to other characters:

p. 69 “It’s all exactly true”

p.70 “God’s truth,” Mitchell Sanders said.

p.72 “Because every word is absolutely dead on true.” (Sanders)

p.74 “Yeah, but listen, it’s still true.” (Sanders)

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What do these statements make you think? Explain your ideas

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‘How to Tell a True War Story’

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Ideas of truth:

• “True” to mean accurate and truthful – factually correct. Does this mean a true war story is one that is specific and accurately talks about war and the events that took place?
• True can also mean authentic – so whilst the war stories may not be accurate to facts, they are true or honest to the experience of the soldiers.
• So when we read these stories (this one and the wider text) we must ask ourselves – which version of true are we receiving? True to who?
• Also, we need to experience the act of telling a story. Consider the distraction, the attention, the catharsis (emotional release/relief)

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Did your ‘Lemon Tree’ predictions come true?

What do you think of Dave Jensen singing the song?

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THE “RULES” OF A TRUE WAR STORY

Identify what O’Brien states the rules are:

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• p.68 “A true war story is never moral.”

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• p.69/70 - “A true war story cannot be believed.”
• p.70 - “...just beyond telling.”
• p.70 - “difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen.”
• p.73 - “You can tell a true war story by the way it never seems to end.”
• p.75 - “A true war story, if truly told, makes the stomach beliere.”
• p.78 - “...often...there is not even a point..”
• p.78 - “...in a true war story nothing is ever absolutely true.”

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‘How to Tell a True War Story’

Step 1: After collating and reading the ‘rules’ of a war story, comment on what ideas they help to show.

What do they indicate about the environment and experience of war?

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Step 2: Think about ‘The Things they Carried’. How does this fit or contradict the idea of a true war story?

Analysing characters, themes and symbols

Main characters:

________ Kiley

Mitchell _______________

Curt __________________

_________ O’Brien

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Themes:

F______________________

S______________________ and _______________________

F______________________of ______________________

P______________________of ______________________

T________________________

‘How to Tell a True War Story’

Find the definition of the word: CATHARSIS

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• the process of releasing or relieving suppressed emotion. It creates a sense of freedom.

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• So catharsis is the noun/thing, you would describe the feeling as ‘cathartic’.
• What are some things that you find ‘cathartic’ or complete/do in order to experience catharsis?

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What does this have to do with our written text study?

Well, in what ways do you think the telling of war stories might be cathartic for:

1. the characters in the stories?
2. the narrator?
3. even the author (Tim O’Brien was a Vietnam veteran).
4. us as a reader? (Older readers, those who were alive then, Americans, young men, young women etc- this could differ/impact!)

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1. Characters:

“It many cases a true war story cannot be believed. If you believe it, be skeptical. It’s a question of credibility. Often the crazy stuff is true and the normal stuff isn’t, because the normal stuff is necessary to make you believe the truly incredible craziness” p70

• Mitchell Sanders tells a tale of soldiers hearing opera and orchestras in the deep jungle, he is insistent O’Brien is listening- “Sanders glanced at me to make sure I had the scenario.” However, later he comes up to tell him that there were some exaggerations.
• Later O’Brien notes “in war you lose your sense of the definite, hence your sense of truth itself, and therefore it’s safe to say that in a true war story nothing is ever absolutely true.” –

Therefore, why might they tell these stories? At the time? Later on?

2./3. Narrator and author - Curt Lemon’s death:

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• “The parts were just hanging there, so Dave Jensen an I were ordered to shimmy up and peel him off. I remember the white bone of an arm. I remember pieces of skin and something wet and yellow that must’ve been the intestines. The gore was horrible, and stays with me.” p78
• “Twenty years later, I can still see the sunlight on Lemon’s face. I can see him turning, looking back at Rat Kiley, then he laughed and took that curious half step from shade into sunlight, his face suddenly brown and shining, and when his foot touched down, in that instant he must’ve thought it was the sunlight that was killing him.”… But if I could ever get the story right, how the sun seemed to gather around him and pick him up and lift him high into a tree…” p79
• Compare these two quotations – look at the romanticism of the second quote, what does this suggest or show us about story telling as catharsis?

4. Reader

“Now and then when I tell this story, someone will come up to me afterward and say she liked it. It’s always a woman… She’ll explain that as a rule she hates war stories, she can’t understand why people want to wallow in all the blood and gore. But this one she liked… What I should do, she’ll say, is put it all behind me. Find new stories to tell… I’ll picture Rat Kiley’s face, his grief, and I’ll think, you dumb cooze. Because she wasn’t listening. It wasn’t a war story. It was a love story.” p80

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What does this quotation suggest about our need for war stories, as a reader? Why would this character have enjoyed the story of Curt Lemon dying?

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For Level three, it is important to consider how we can interpret questions in different ways – therefore it is important to consider perspectives!!

How can we link CATHARSIS, PTSD and Tim O’Brien?

• It is likely that O’Brien experienced some PTSD, if not formally diagnosed, at the very least being an impressionable young man thrust into the dark realities of war and murder… you’re bound to experience some impact.
• Therefore, we can view the act of storytelling as a way for O’Brien to make sense of those moments, to release the experience through a version of events.
• This may be a ‘true’ version (a true war story), or an adapted version. (Consider why this matters? Is he betraying the readers by being unreliable? Or should we be reading with the understanding that it is an interpretation)
• He has to relive the moments to make sense of them. War can seem pretty senseless when your mate’s organs are splattered across a tree.
• He may also recreate them to put them at ease or at peace.

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Could the stories being non-linear be a factor too?

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Why has O’Brien created a character named Tim O’Brien?

• Tim O’Brien, the author, has used his narrator/character of Tim O’Brien as an outlet for his interpretations and experiences of war. Therefore he is a proxy (tool, method) of catharsis.
• By creating a character, there is an opportunity to explore war, without it being accurate to his actual experiences. This distance may allow him to better work through the process.
• This distance also impacts narrator reliability and trust (as readers)

SO, WHAT DO WE GAIN FROM CATHARSIS?

• Allows us to reflect on war as an entity and experience.
• Makes us consider the morals and ethics of war – and the impacts of this.
• Gives some sense to the senseless nature of war – we can see more of a reason for it, at least people gained reflection and beauty in the moments??
• Attempts to find resolution /an end to the experience or time.
• What else? What do you think?