When researching and looking back at stories that have been covered in the class so far, I've decided to write about an author who has taken his past experiences and brought it into the stories he writes. Because of this class, this author has become a personal favorite of mine to sit down and read. The name of that author is Tim O"Brien.
O"Brien's life began as a young boy growing up in a small town in Minnesota called Austin in 1946 (Tim O"Brien Bio, 1). After graduating with a BA degree in Political Science, he also got something that young adults such as me would dread and that's a draft notice to report for war duty. O"Brien felt outraged as he showed his emotions against the war itself but still ended up going to the service and the Vietnam War. He was assigned as an infantry foot soldier and served in the military from 1969-70 (About the Author, 1). .
After war, O"Brien went back to school and attended Harvard as a graduate student. He then pursues other things such as holding an internship at The Washington Post, working as a newspaper reporter and also a regular reporter (Tim O"Brien Bio, 1). But O"Brien knew that his love was writing and finally decided to sit down and become a writer.
Since he had previous experience of being in combat and fighting in the war, it gave him a great basis and idea of what to write as an author. That's how O"Brien wrote his story and one of our class assignments, "The Things They Carried". O"Brien wrote about the life of a group of soldiers over in the Vietnam War and the lifestyle that is led while fighting the war. This story showed that not only did the soldiers have to carry out the equipment, weapons and other goods of necessity to live while being there, but they also showed the physical, emotional and awful side that it can be being a soldier. .
The story shows so many characteristics of those soldiers who are currently over in Iraq and other territories fighting for our countries and defending our freedom.