Tim O’Brien Against Interpretation

In How To Tell A True War Story, Tim O'Brien suggests that no response is the only adequate response to a war story, and to truly absorb the meaning of such a story, one must sit in the discomfort it brings. Writing at length about what makes a true war story, O'Brien, having served in the Vietnam War, remarks that, "in the end, really, there's nothing much to say about a true war story, except maybe 'Oh' (74)." The individual listening to the story should "marinate" in the feelings evoked in them, not ask questions to determine meaning or factuality, nor offer platitudes or pass judgment. Doing so would take away from the intended impact, as these are tools for comprehension and translation which ultimately dilute the purity of the story. When we analyze art and stories alike, it's easy for the piece itself to be replaced by our interpretations of it as we question or ultimately justify these works. Similarly, Susan Sontag argues that our simplifications and explanations allow us to not deal with the intensity of the emotions and discomfort that the work of art evokes in us: "Real art has the capacity to make us nervous. By reducing the work of art to its content and then interpreting that, one tames the work of art (5)." Both O'Brien and Sontag argue that to truly appreciate stories and other art forms, we must embrace our emotional response, even when it is discomfort, instead of treating them as puzzles to be solved.