Question

Which best explains how the title of A Rumor of War can be considered a paradox?
Those who experienced the war are the only ones who know the truth.
Stories that are told during times of war should never fully be believed.
Wars are far too real and large scale to ever be considered merely rumors.
Rumors about the war were everywhere before the war officially began.

Answer 1

"Wars are far too real and large scale to ever be considered merely rumors."

This is a paradox because the word "rumor" implies something insubstantial or untrue, while a war is concrete, violent, and consequential. Caputo's title forces a contrast between how war can be talked about as hearsay or myth and the brutal reality experienced by those who fight it.