It's time to be blunt. I'm forty-three years old, true, and I'm a writer now, and a long time ago I walked through Quang Ngai Province as a foot soldier. Almost everything else is invented. But it's not a game. It's a form."(p. 171)
In "Good Form", O'Brien wants to make it very clear that what he (or anyone else says) happened and what actually happened are very different. but I'm still left a little confused. how can he honestly say "Yes, I killed a man" and at the same time honestly say "Of course not"? is it because there is that separation between what actually happened and what he remembers? is it because he has purposely forgotten the true event? or is this just more rationalizing on his part?
according to the excerpt, it's really not any of those. it's not a game to see who can create the most elaborate story, it's just how things are done. stories are fabricated. they are re-told. they are warped. and somehow, they become some part of the truth. they become the story-truth. the happening-truth gets hidden. it's a perfectly orchestrated cover-up that no one can or will discover.
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