He took many of the incidents experienced during the war and invented other truths, to make his point and to distance himself from the inner tragedy of the story itself. Furthermore, O'Brien says, "we kept the dead alive with stories" (226). During the war you meet many people and lose many. These soldiers told stories to make it seem like the friends they had lost were still alive, to get rid of the pain they felt from all the death they were experiencing. O'Brien, explains that when Rat Kiley told stories about Curt Lemon, saying, “listening to the story, especially as Rat Kiley told it, you would never know that Curt Lemon was dead. He was still out there in the dark, naked and made up, trick or treating, gliding from place to place with the crazy white ghost mask. But he was dead” (227). We can see here that their use of storytelling was not just a way to kill time, but also a way to deal with the lost and tragic experiences they had during the war. Furthermore, O'Brien says, “they're all dead. But in a story, which is a kind of dream, the dead sometimes smile, sit down, and return to the world” (213). Once again we can see that these stories are used for much more than a way to pass the time; however, as a useful method for dealing with events that have occurred. Maybe, O'Brien