1. The characteristics of a true war story include 1) the absence of morality, 2) inability to separate fiction from reality, 3) a feeling that the story never seems to end, 4) a lack of generalizations 5) the lack of a point, and 6) leaves you asking questions about it.

2. a) There are only two sections for the essay.
b) The essay is divided up into two parts in order to compliment and emphasize points that the author makes about telling war stories.
c) The first part deals with the present time and addresses the issue of how to tell a true war story. The second part is series of war stories being told or recounted by the author.

3. The thesis of the essay is located in the last paragraph and states that "a true war story is never about war." (O' Brien:471). It is stated implicitly throughout the essay but is made explicit in the last paragraph.

4. The essay is developed and organized around a series of "war stories" complimented with the author's straightforward discussion on exactly what makes up a true war story.

5. The author uses lots of sensory image and parallelism in his sentences in order to convey a vivid picture of a true war story.