The Things They Carried

Explain the last paragraph of chapter 7.

Chapter 7 "how to tell a true war story".

Asked by
Last updated by Aslan
Answers 1
Add Yours

Another “true” story that O’Brien tells is that of a water buffalo. The day that Curt Lemon died, the company found a baby water buffalo in the woods. Rat Kiley tortured it. He shot it in all the places in its body where a wound would not be fatal. Kiley had just lost his best friend, O’Brien explains, to help justify the story. He tortured the buffalo and cried. Back home, when old women cry listening to that story, O’Brien says they don’t understand. They understand that war is about beauty and friendship, too. They only understand tired generalizations: “war is hell", etc.