Even More Personal

Similarily to The Sun Also Rises, Tim O' Brien uses first person point of view. However, the way he uses it is a whole world different than the way Ernest Hemingway uses it. In the Things they carried, O' Brien is the acutal character taking place in the story. His name is used when others refer to him and this makes the story feel even more personal. Since O 'Brien was actually in the war and witnessed these things himself, it gives the reader a sense of ethos. The reader knows, as I did, that O' Brien means everything he says with all sincerity. However, why would this book be in fiction? While it has the qualites of a fiction book, it also has the qualities of a documentary. So is it true that the central character is in face O' Brien?