Spin

3. " On occasions the war was like a ping-pong ball. You could put a fancy spin on it, you could make it dance." What does this mean? What is the "spin" O'Brien is talking about? Identify where in the chapter O'Brien "spins" the story, events, etc. What is he trying to show the reader?

A: "On occasions the war was like a ping-ping ball. You could put a fancy spin on it, you could make it dance." This quote means that war could be sometimes repetitive like how his unit went through ambushes many times, and how Bowker and Dobbins played checkers every night. The "spin" O'Brien is talking about is how anything can be said about the war, false or true. For example, throughout the chapter, "Spin", O'Brien has many different memories. We do not know if they are true or false. It is his memories. Sometimes the mind tends to make up things that never really happened. Towards the end of the chapter, O'Brien goes from speaking of Curt Lemon's death, to the death a boy that was killed. O'Brien is trying to show the reader that not everything is true about war.