Questions one and two are integrated, on account of the narrator being the author.
Our narrator is Tim O'Brien, who is also the author. Tim O'Brien served in the Vietnam War, in Alpha Company, alongside many of the characters who feature heavily in the novel. O'Brien is different from how I would have imagined him to be, prior to reading "The Things They Carried". In the book, it was shown that he was actually against the war, and had no desire to join it at all, shown in the quote "I was drafted to fight a war I hated. I was twenty-one years old. Young, yes, and politically naive, but even so the American war in Vietnam seemed to me wrong. Certain blood being shed for uncertain reasons" (O'Brien 38). I appreciate Tim O'Brien's perspective on this, as I feel that had the narrator been some war-hawk super-patriot I would've been unable to identify with him. I also approve of how O'Brien characterized himself in the story. He did not make himself out to be a hero, not even slightly. In fact, he often showed how he was not even remarkable in the slightest, or was unable to cope with some events, such as killing another person.
I am glad that O'Brien wrote the story from his perspective rather than making up a character, as having a firsthand account (even if it was modified at times to better fit the story-truth) provides a very powerful perspective that I doubt would have been the same had it been completely fictional. This is a point I cannot stress enough, Tim O'Brien's writing is powerful. His writing is infused with this kind of profound sadness that I can't really describe in words, it's something you can only understand if you've read it. I believe that his writing is this way because of his philosophy of what counts as a true war story. He explains this rather simply here: "A true war story, if truly told, makes the stomach believe" (O'Brien 74). On that, O'Brien has succeeded greatly, for "The Things They Carried" has become one of my favorite books.
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