In the midst of Richard Bausch’s Peace, Marson stops to recall details about the storytelling tendencies of Walberg, “a look would come to his dark eyes, an anxious widening of them, as if he understood quite well that no one would believe him, and yet he was compelled to tell the story” (62-63). Marson’s recollection of Walberg’s tendencies provides commentary that applies to the propensities of all the soldiers throughout the entirety of the novel. Walberg, though doubtful his stories will pass as believable, continues on because he feels such a strong pull to tell it. This unavoidable force that storytelling holds over Walberg is the same force that Marson, Joyner and Asch feel throughout.
Marson’s recollection of Walberg’s tendencies comes at a crucial time in the novel, while he, Asch and Joyner all grapple with whether or not to report what actually happened during the skirmish with the German soldier and the woman. Though their version of events is more than just a story, it is the truth, they still battle whether or not their version will be accepted as such. Perhaps Marson recalls Walberg’s pull towards storytelling at this point because Walberg refuses to refrain from telling a story he believes is the honest truth, just as the three men battle telling theirs. Either way, the similarities between Walberg’s wartime storytelling propensities and the recurring storytelling themes throughout provide an undeniable commentary by Bausch that storytelling is an act that one often finds unavoidable and imperative, whether the receiving party believes the story or not.
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