Tim O'Brien vs. Tim O'Brien

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien was a wonderful and absolutely intriguing read. This novel is loaded with meaning, rhetorical tools, and complex characters that I would love to touch on in this post. However, I would like to focus on Tim O'Brien (the character) and Tim O'Brien (the author). 

I had the chance to look up some information about the author as well as the novel itself at a library a couple of days ago. It came as a great shock to me that Tim O'Brien (the character) and Tim O'Brien (the author) are not really the same person; although, I should have been able to guess so judging by the fact that The Things They Carried is considered to be a work of fiction and not an actual memoir. 

I believe that this was actually a great rhetorical move on the part of the author. Tim O'Brien (the author) actually served in Vietnam, thence a number of events described in the novel had actually happened in real life. However, Tim O'Brien (the author) chose to name the narrator and protagonist after himself and actually gave the character a similar life story, excluding a few minor differences. Tim O'Brien (the character), obviously, also served in Vietnam. He is an accomplished writer. He is also 43 years old. 

I believe this was an interesting way to present the story of the Vietnam War because Tim O'Brien (the author) was able to recount his own experiences at war, as well as create events that had never took place through the voice of Tim O'Brien (the character), while still being able to claim it all as his own point of view. Both Tim O'Briens are guilt-ridden middle aged men, who turn to writing about the war in order to cope with painful memories.