Brice Lucas- Final Post 2

     In The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien is both the author and the narrator. He chose himself to be the narrator over creating a fictional character or telling the story from another person in the war's point of view because he has unique, inside, first person information that no one else has. He can use the fact that it was him in the war and he is the narrator to give himself credibility and ensure readers that the stories he tells throughout the book are accurate and true. O'Brien gives credible sources throughout the story: "As soldiers, the ARVNs were useless; the Ruff-and-Puffs were outright dangerous. And yet even with decent troops the place was clearly indefensible" (O'Brien 87). O'Brien gives so much detail in his opinions that the reader knows that they are true.

     By choosing to use his own voice, O'Brien makes the stories he tells interesting and compelling.  He does an excellent job of making the reader feel the emotions he went through while explaining in vivid detail the experiences he faced while in Vietnam.  I think O'Brien's use of himself as a narrator was a good choice. Because he was engulfed in the story, he poured his emotions on to the pages. I respect that he published an entire book about his personal experiences in the most traumatic, life threatening time of his life. He gave his own thoughts on the events that transpired which allowed the reader to understand how he really felt during this time, and why he did the things he did to deal with the horrible situations he went through during the war.