Honesty

"What stories can do, I guess, is make things present. I can look at things I never looked at. I can attach faces to grief and love and pity and God. I can be brave. I can make myself feel again. 'Daddy, tell the truth,' Kathleen can say, 'did you ever kill anybody?' And I can say honestly, 'Of course not.' Or I can say, honestly, 'Yes.' (p. 172)

I think this is a really moving paragraph and a kind of "WOW!" moment. I do not know how to explain why it is one of these moments for me, I can only say that it is. In this paragraph, O'Brien finally seems to come to peace with his past. Yes, he still carries guilt, but he is not afraid to confront his past any longer. When he talks of stories, I believe he is saying that the way a story is told effects the outcome. The wording may make it seem, in his case, like he did kill someone, or as though he had no choice and so it really was not his fault. I like how with this recognition, it seems that O'Brien is more open to telling his daughter the story. Without this openness, I do not believe he could truly come to terms with his past. I do not believe I truly understand what O'Brien means to say in this chapter, but for some reason, it sticks with me that he can honestly say yes or no.