The novel blurs the lines between real stories and stories that the author created in order to cope with his past in Vietnam. O'Brien affectively confuses average readers with his ambiguity between "story truth" and "happening truth" and casts doubt on the veracity of the entire book to show a normal audience how war veterans are forced to cope with their experiences. ... Particularly at the end of the book, O'Brien explains that in Vietnam, the soldiers created ways to make the people they were close to that died seem less dead – they kept those people aliv...

• Word Count: 685
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

"Homecoming", by Bruce Dawe, illustrates and recounts the tragedies of the Vietnam War in an even-tempered, but negative tone. ... 'They're', made use of at the beginning of five consecutive sentences highlights exactly this. ... Despite having made the ultimate sacrifice of going to war, the fact the most attention they are presented with is from a dog accentuates the global concept of war as dehumanizing. ... This meaning is however used ironically by subtly contrasting the traditional implications of the word, with the shocking reality of dead soldiers flown home from Vietnam...

• Word Count: 951
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: Undergraduate