The Things They Wore by Tim O'Brien depicts the struggles of soldiers in war. The novel is ultimately a way for the author to cope with death and keep the memories of his platoon alive. Susan Wittig Albert writes: “Telling stories heals. As we reveal ourselves in history, we become aware of the continuing core of our lives beneath the fragmented surface of our experience. We become aware of the multi-faceted and multi-chaptered “I” who is the storyteller. We can trace the paradoxical and even contradictory versions of ourselves that we create for different occasions, different audiences... More importantly, as we become more aware of ourselves as storytellers, we realize that what we understand and imagine about ourselves is a story. And when we know all of this, we can use our stories to heal and recover. » Tim O'Brien presents himself as an author, a narrator, a storyteller and a character through twenty-two vignettes. Each perspective helps him achieve his goal in writing the novel. Tim O'Brien, as an author, is able to explore the horror of the war zone through his novel. Each vignette is a coping mechanism that helps him heal; he is able to keep the memory of the dead alive through stories. In Ambush, O'Brien writes: “Even now, I'm not done dealing with the problem. Sometimes I forgive myself, other times I don’t” (134). The tragedies of war had a profound impact on him. Several men, including Norman Bowker, ask for news; some want to be portrayed as heroes, while others are simply looking to find peace. Bowker, unlike O'Brien, struggles to re-enter society. The author writes: ““Speaking of Courage” was written in 1975 at the suggestion of Norman Bowker, who three years later hanged himself in the middle of a paper... The author writes: “But this too is true: stories can save us. I'm forty-three and I'm a writer now, and even still, right here, I still dream of Linda alive. And Ted Lavender too, and Kiowa, and Curt Lemon, and a thin young man I killed, and an old man sprawled beside a pigsty, and several others whose bodies I once picked up and took away. thrown into a truck. They are all dead. But in a story that is a kind of dream, the dead sometimes smile, get up and return to the world” (225). Tim O'Brien as the storyteller is the most important role, as he offers him the most comfort when he faces loss. Works Cited “Storytelling is healing.” The passive voice. Np, and Web. February 2014..O'Brien, Tim. The things they carried. New York: First Broadway, 1998. Print.Created : 13/02/14 14:23