What is the connection in O'Brien's short story between experience and language? Does he believe that our language predetermines the nature of our experience, or does he suggest, instead, that our...

What is the connection in O'Brien's short story between experience and language? Does he believe that our language predetermines the nature of our experience, or does he suggest, instead, that our experience is often more complex than our language can accommodate? Toward the c::nd of the story, the narrator describes the kind of exchange he has, after reading his short sto1;es in public. often with "an older woman of kjndly temperament and humane politics.'' What sense can you make of the nan-a tor's remarks abouc this exchange? Is it ever possible to describe our experience co ochers? Would listeners who had served in Vietnam be more likely to understand the narrator's account than those who had never been there? How abom someone who had served in a different war? How much experic::uce muse people share in order to understand one another?