Kiowa helps “O’Brien” by easing his transitions. He makes “O’Brien” more comfortable when he arrives at the war, talking to him about the others’ jokes about corpses, and he tries to get “O’Brien” to talk about the Vietnamese soldier he killed. “O’Brien” tells the story of Linda to Kiowa. It is from Kiowa, therefore, that “O’Brien” learns the importance of communicating, leading eventually to his becoming a writer. In some ways, Kiowa’s death is what makes “O’Brien” a writer, a teller of stories. When he returns to Vietnam with Katherine, he takes her to the site of Kiowa’s death in the field. Although “O’Brien” does not tell her the story of Kiowa, he brings her to that site so that he might pass the story on, just as he will pass on the story of how he killed a man when he feels Katherine is ready to hear it.