War Stories

War Stories follows the journey of three generations of men in the same family, with each character representing a different perspective on the subject of war. Trevor, the youngest member of the group, is naturally the most idealistic and enthusiastic about the topic. He is particularly enthralled by World War II, which he views simplistically as the ultimate confrontation between good and evil. At multiple points, Trevor’s father, Daniel, explicitly uses the word “glamorizing” in a derogatory sense to describe his son’s attitude toward war. As the reader perceives the battlefields of Europe through Trevor’s eyes, even with Jacob and Daniel as choric figures striving to temper his enthusiasm, Trevor seems—at first—incapable of acknowledging the downside of the conflict. In his mind, the people of Europe should feel nothing but fawning gratitude toward the American soldiers who rid them of Hitler.

Trevor’s reductionist approach to World War II stems, in part, from the media he consumes. When the reader is first introduced to Trevor, we see him enthusiastically playing a World War II video game. His father struggles to tear him away from the screen because he is so swept up in the adventure and drama of combat. Early on, Trevor has a vague sense of the difference between simulated experience and lived experience. However, his keen interest in his great-grandfather’s lived experience is more oriented around a wish for greater intensity of what Trevor has experienced via his video games. It does not encompass a wish to grasp the complexities and depth, technically and emotionally, of the events.

Trevor’s glamorization of warfare centers the largest, most intense battles of the conflict, portraying soldiers as highly skilled adult men confident in their abilities. Accordingly, Trevor aspires to become a similar hero one day—a man like he assumes his great-grandfather was, who comes to gain the admiration of thousands for his role as a hero. Initially, Trevor can only fulfill this fantasy through gaming and living vicariously through Jacob’s memories. As his journey proceeds, however, because Trevor values the sweep and drama of warfare, the family’s drive through hedgerow country is especially deflating:

‘But it just seems wrong. In video games, war is huge crazy battles, with ginormous explosions and everybody fighting full-on.’ ‘Maybe somebody should have pointed out to you,’ Dad put in sarcastically, ‘that video games aren’t the same as real life. Oh, wait. Somebody tried to. But you wouldn’t listen to me’ (97).

Similarly, Trevor is stricken when he realizes that two of Jacob’s friends, Leland and Freddie, died without heroics or fanfare—their deaths were swift and unremarkable, occurring before either man had much change to fight back.

Trevor’s glamorization of warfare meets a powerful counterforce when he first confronts Juliette. In this confrontation, while Trevor is only just beginning his journey of understanding the trauma of war on a personal level, Juliette has understood this aspect of warfare her entire life. Her fierce animosity toward Jacob, ironically, helps Trevor make the shift from viewing World War II as a spectator to understanding it as a source of profound generational trauma.