Fiction is a form of literature that allows the reader to escape into a world of fantasy that is unable to exist in the real world. In fiction, authors are able to have an incredible impact on the reader, though the stories they tell are not true. It is this point that Tim O’Brien directly writes about in “How to Tell a True War Story.” In his writing he describes, in regards to war, that the largest lies of made up stories contain the most truth. This is also true in the story “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” where the most valid points must be driven across with exaggeration and use of fictional language to make the largest impact. It is for this reason that I believe that in order to tell the truth about gruesome and grotesque…show more content… Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” I believe that Russell attempts to push home a similar message as O’Brien, which is that in order to explain the struggles of humanity, you must include exaggerations and fantastical language. This can be seen in her description of the girls and how they must undergo a process of conformity in order to the considered “civilized” (Russell 241). I believe that Russell is trying to impress upon the reader a major problem with humans which is that we all must conform to societal norms in order to be one of “the pack” (Russell 240). She does just this by using an association of humans with werewolves that are untamed and “uncivilized” so as to show how conformity within the human community has led to a loss of individualism. This point would otherwise be impossible to be made had Russell not chosen to use fictional language and characters, similar to how O’Brien uses lies about war in order to tell the truth about war. For these reasons it can thus be concluded that in order for a strong society to form you must assimilate. If there is an outlier that does not do so, they will be considered an outsider of society and will be excluded from all its
