Life dwells in a never-ending sequence of decisions which revolves around an individual's motivation to achieve a goal. More often than not these choices are insignificant and lack meaning in an individual’s life. However, when a decision arises which will surely have an impact on the rest of the individual’s life, they will undoubtedly look to their motivation to guide their decision. On the other hand, when the individual is faced with the inexplicable decision that can change the fate of one's life, they may be faced with a dilemma of conflicting motivations, which resonates from what others desire for the individual and what the individual desires. In his short story, On The Rainy River, Tim O’Brien depicts his life-changing journey in …show more content…
While staying there for six nights Tim allowed his decision to brew, he also aided Elroy with doing some of his chores. On the last night of Tim’s stay, Elroy took him out on the rainy river on his boat, they drifted around for a while between the border of Canada and the United States; fishing. While on the boat Tim began to feel the pressure to make a decision, whether his motivation to live his life the way he favoured which would drive him to jump out of the boat into the river and swim a short distance toward Canada, or his motivation not to be called a cowards by the townspeople where he is from and return home. Tim begins to see an allusion of all the people he ever knew from his past, present, and his future; all standing along the shoreline of the United States. “I saw my parents calling me from the far shoreline. I saw my brother and sister, all the townsfolk, the mayor and the entire Chamber of Commerce and all my old teachers and girlfriends and high school buddies.”, in addition, the narrator also states “My wife was there. My unborn daughter waved at me” which proves that he had also noticed individual from his future. In result, this event Tim allows the possible options of countless individuals influence his fate. Tim’s over consideration of his decision caused his motivation of not being branded a coward overpower his motivation of living the life he desired. This was assured when Tim stated, “couldn’t risk the embarrassment” of allowing his desire to run away to become a priority over his pride. Ultimately, Tim’s decision to salvage his dignity overruled his decision and he went to war and for long after, bemoaned his
In the book, “The Way to Rainy Mountain” by N. Scott Momaday, there is 24 chapters in which consist of three voices, myth, historical, and personal. All of these parts of each chapter come together to make an overall meaning. In chapter 10, Tai-me is described both as a person and as a figure and describes the importance of Tai-me. The myth explains how Tai-me became a part of the Kiowas. The Kiowas were hungry and one of the men went out on a search of food. While searching the man stumbled upon Tai-me and the man told Tai-me his problem. Tai-me told the man, “ Take me with you and I will give you whatever you want”. The historical part explains that the Kiowas were extraordinary grateful for Tai-me that Tai-me became the symbol of their worship and was the central figure of their Kudo ceremonies. The personal part of the story, is the narrator reflecting upon the time he visited the Tai-me bundle and left an offering as thanks. In all the chapter shows the great importance of Tai-me to the Kiowas.
He had difficulty keeping his attention on the war. On occasion he would yell at his men to spread out the column, to keep their eyes open, but then he would slip away into daydreams, just pretending, walking barefoot along the Jersey shore, with Martha, carrying nothing. Linda was what kept Tim going throughout the book, even if only just her memory played a big role in his life. Dying from a brain tumor when they were just nine, she inspired him to keep fighting when life was hard. To him she was always nearby in spirit.
When individuals face obstacles in life, there is often two ways to respond to those hardships: some people choose to escape from the reality and live in an illusive world. Others choose to fight against the adversities and find a solution to solve the problems. These two ways may lead the individuals to a whole new perception. Those people who decide to escape may find themselves trapped into a worse or even disastrous situation and eventually lose all of their perceptions and hops to the world, and those who choose to fight against the obstacles may find themselves a good solution to the tragic world and turn their hopelessness into hopes. Margaret Laurence in her short story Horses of the Night discusses the idea of how individual’s responses
moment in the story Tim’s growth has shown as realizing that to protect his family he needs to go against his blood brother. After a long time of waiting and strife from war Winter finally arrives and its time for father to make his trip to Verplancks Point to sell his cattle. With Sam being gone Tim has been asked to go along on a new adventure.
Life is made up of decisions and choices. Every single day, people make numerous decisions, some big and some small. Many choices can impact your entire life while others, like what you eat for breakfast, aren’t as important. However, all of your choices build the track for your life and make you who you are. The choices you make can be greatly impacted by your surroundings and environment. They are also made based on your values and beliefs. In the memoir A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah, Ishmael is a young fourteen year old boy thrown in the middle of Sierra Leone's civil war. During the war, Ishmael is given a series of obstacles where he is required to make important life choices that would impact his life greatly. At one part of Ishmael's
In the chapter the “Rainy River” of the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, O’Brien conveys a deep moral conflict between fleeing the war to go to Canada versus staying and fighting in a war that he does not support. O’Brien is an educated man, a full time law student at Harvard and a liberal person who sees war as a pointless activity for dimwitted, war hungry men. His status makes him naive to the fact that he will be drafted into the war and thus when he receives his draft notice, he is shocked. Furthermore, his anti-war sentiments are thoroughly projected, and he unravels into a moral dilemma between finding freedom in Canada or standing his ground and fighting. An image of a rainy river marking the border between Minnesota and Canada is representative of this chapter because it reflects O’Brien’s moral division between finding freedom in Canada or standing his ground and fighting in the Vietnam war.
“Two roads diverged in a wood and I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” At some point in life one is faced with a decision which will define the future, but only time will tell whether or not the choice was right or wrong. The Boat by Alistair MacLeod demonstrates that an individual should make their own decisions in life, be open to new experiences and changes, and that there is no way to obtain something, without sacrificing something else.
We all experience a rite of passage in our lives, whether it be the time we learned to swim or perhaps the day we received our driver’s license. A rite of passage marks an important stage in someone’s life, and one often times comes with a lesson learned. Three selections that provide fine examples of rites of passage that individuals confront include “The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant” by W.D. Wetherell, “On Turning Ten” by Billy Collins” and “First Lesson” by Philip Booth.
Tim’s father life was a loyalist who supported the king. While taking the journey back to Redding, Life gets captured by cowboys and ends up on a British prison ship. The author explains “ … it wasn’t a Rebel prison ship, it was a British one,”(164). After Life gets captured, he gets put on a British prison ship where he catches a sickness and dies. Furthermore, Life was killed by his own side. Even though Life supported the king, his loyalty did nothing to prevent him from being put on the ship. Tim does not see why he should pick a side when obedience isn’t rewarded. The irony of his own father’s death puts Tim’s thoughts in perspective, therefore, showing him that he is on neither side in the
While making decisions in life, it’s hard to know whether you’re making the right choices. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions about what is right and what is wrong. Throughout the stories “Reve Haitien” by Ben Fountain, “Emergency” by Denis Johnson, and “On the Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien I had many differentiating opinions. In “Reve Haitien” I’d argue Mason made the right choice, while in “Emergency” and “On the Rainy River” both our narrators made misguided or wrong decisions.
The novel River God by Wilbur Smith is set in Ancient Egypt, during a time when the kingdoms were beginning to collapse and the Upper and Lower Egypt were separated between two rulers. The story is in the view-point of Taita, a highly multi-talented eunuch slave. At the beginning of the story, Taita belongs to Lord Intef and helps manage his estate along with caring for his beautiful daughter, Lostris. She is in love with Tanus, a fine solider and also Taita’s friend. Unfortunately, Lord Intef despises Tanus’s father, Lord Harrab, and Intef was actually the one who the cause of the fall of Harrab’s estate, unknowingly to Lostris and Tanus. Taita’s goal is to bring back Egypt to its former glory, but with so many bandits and invaders it would be a difficult task.
Life can sometime bring unwanted events that individuals might not be willing to face it. This was the conflict of O’Brien in the story, “On The Rainy River”. As the author and the character O’Brien describes his experiences about the draft to the Vietnam War. He face the conflict of whether he must or must not go to the war, in this moment O’Brien thinking that he is so good for war, and that he should not be lost in that way. He also show that he disagree with the consbet of the war, how killing people will benefit the country. In addition O’Brien was terrifying of the idea of leaving his family, friends, and everything that he has done in the past years.
In the short story, “On the Rainy River”, Tim O’Brien reflects on how an individual’s values and identity shifts in the face of adversity. This idea is portrayed in the character of Tim O’Brien and how he is able to compromise his values when he is faced with internal turmoil in the presence of adversity. “Oddly, though, it was almost entirely an intellectual activity. I brought some energy to it, of course, but it was the energy that accompanies almost any abstract endeavor”. This quote portrays how weakly Tim clung onto his values even though he held an opinion against this war. Tim never really takes initiative to fully fight this war, he only puts in the bare minimum. He talks about how the editorials he wrote were “tedious’ and “uninspired”
The relationship you have with others often has a direct effect on the basis of your very own personal identity. In the essay "On The Rainy River," the author Tim O'Brien tells about his experiences and how his relationship with a single person had effected his life so dramatically. It is hard for anyone to rely fully on their own personal experiences when there are so many other people out there with different experiences of their own. Sometimes it take the experiences and knowledge of others to help you learn and build from them to help form your own personal identity. In the essay, O'Brien speaks about his experiences with a man by the name of Elroy Berdahl, the owner of the fishing lodge that O'Brien stays at while on how journey to find himself. The experiences O'Brien has while there helps him to open his mind and realize what his true personal identity was. It gives you a sense than our own personal identities are built on the relationships we have with others. There are many influence out there such as our family and friends. Sometimes even groups of people such as others of our nationality and religion have a space in building our personal identities.
When reflecting and writing on Eiseley’s essay and the “magical element”, I balk. I think to myself, “What magic?”, and then put pen to page. I dubiously choose a kiddie pool to draw inspiration from, and unexpectedly, inspiration flows into me. As I sit here in this little 10x30 foot backyard, the sky is filled with the flowing gaseous form of water, dark patches of moist earth speckle the yard, the plants soak up their scattered watering, and the leaves of bushes and trees imbue the space with a sense of dampness from their foliage. As my senses tune into the moisture that surrounds me, I fill Braedon’s artificial pond with water. I stare at the shimmering surface, contemplating Eiseley’s narrative, and the little bit of life’s wellspring caught in Brae’s pool. I see why Eiseley thought the most abundant compound on the earth’s surface is mystical.