So where do you stand?

Tim O'Brien is, obviously, the author of the book, and around chapter three the reader finds out he is the narrator. His point of view for the novel is the reminiscing narrator. All of the stories and flashbacks are from O'Brien's head, his experience. They are his way with dealing with his ghosts, and with relating them to people who were not in Vietnam.

Instead of just presenting the novel and letting the reader judge the war on their own reactions, O'Brien engages the reader in his memories and in his own chaotic sorrowful feelings and thoughts. "All i could do was cry. It seemed that all around me a crushing weight was pressing on me." (O'Brien 54). O'Brien spends an entire chapter telling of his inner storm, his chaotic, twisting thoughts swirling inside him as he tries to escape his fate. He is not just making these feelings up or retelling them from someone else. They are his and his alone.