On The Rainy River Analysis

The Moral Battle

A draft is a form of a social obligations that is just not an ordinary obligation, but it is a legal one. The government is behind it which means that the government has the right to draft you into war whether you agree with it or not. In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien was trapped between the sword and the wall on the decision of going to war or escaping the draft by going to Canada. He had to choose whether or not to risk his life for the sake of his country and family. Throughout the chapter entitled “On the Rainy River” Tim O’Brien tells us the readers how hard was for him to make a decision of whether to go or not. Tim O’Brien puts us on his position by asking rhetorical questions such as “What would you do?” “Would

Soldiers like O’Brien were drafted to go to war and they were obligated to go to war for fear of embarrassment and guilt they would bring to their family and town if they decided to run away from the draft. O’Brien realizes that going to Canada was a pitiful fantasy silly and hopeless. O’Brien mentions that “He understands that he would not do what he should do he would not swim away from his country” (page 55). O’Brien illustrates that he has some visions of his family, wife, daughter, friends and people from his town calling him a traitor! Turncoat! Pussy!, when he tries to step out of the boat (page 57). Tim O’Brien mentions that he couldn’t tolerate it, he couldn’t endure the mockery, or the disgrace or the patriotic ridicule he also mentions that he couldn’t be brave enough to jump (page 57). The vision personifies his shame, his inability to withstand what others will think of him, and the responsibility to meet social obligations. The power of his imagination, shame, and embarrassment made him belief that the right decision is to go to war. It convinced him that it was worth dying to not be seen as a coward, to avoid shame. Tim O’Brien states “I would go to the war- I would kill and maybe die¬-because I was embarrassed not to” (page 57). O'Brien's decision is not rooted in what he believes is the "right" thing to do, but the thing society wants him to do and his

O’Brien didn’t believe in war. He felt like he was too good for it, too smart, too compassionate, too everything (page 39). Tim O’Brien even thought that the draft notice could have been a mistake because he had just graduated college and he is getting a full ride scholarship at Harvard. He wanted to escape the war because he hated the war and he thought that the American war in Vietnam was wrong (page 38). O’Brien saw no unity of purpose to fight this war he saw no consensus on matters of law so that’s why he decides to flee. Tim O’Brien starts by listing things he hates that soldiers would face. He says that “he hates camping out, he hates dirt, tents and mosquitoes and the sight of blood makes him queasy” (page 39). Another reason why Tim O’Brien wants to escape the draft and go to Canada is that he doesn’t want to die, he doesn’t want to die in a wrong war. In mid-July Tim began to think about Canada it was just a few hundred miles away. He thought about fleeing the draft because he couldn’t resist anymore. Tim O’Brien states that “both his conscience and his instincts were telling him to make a break for it, just take off and run like hell and never stop (page 42). As O’Brien thinks of fleeing to Canada he thinks about his family and the shame he would bring to his family as well as how he would lose the respect of his family and community. As Tim O’Brien was working he felt this feeling on his chest he