Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried is a novel about the Vietnam War and how it affected the people involved. The author accurately depicts the emotional and physical stresses that are accompanied by war so descriptively that audiences can feel the struggles and heartaches of the characters themselves. This novel is a series of independent stories that are woven together to show the realities of the Vietnam War, such as those experienced by many of the soldiers, some of whom are still teenage boys or young adults. O'Brien conveys the truths of war through his characters Azar and Norman Bowker. In The Things They Carried, the author depicts Azar's bold, immature, and insistent characteristics versus Norman's courageous, reflective, and distressed attitudes through their words and actions.

Azar is a character who is incredibly impudent and disrespectfully bold. He is not hesitant to say things that immediately spring into...