“How many years can some people exist before they're allowed to be free...How many times can a man turn his head pretending he just doesn't see?” The lyrics of Blowin’ in the Wind strike the painful feeling when our dignity is smothered by unbearable fear. In the short story “On the Rainy River”, Tim O’Brien explores the idea that we cannot follow our heart in the face of terror. Through his experiences, O’Brien suggests that when our insecurity clashes with our self-respect, our moral conscience is often torn into pieces until we are left with no choice but to accept the ruthless reality with a desperate heart.
A society, a place, an attitude, an expectation---all of these contribute to a character’s response to threatening forces. Tim’s insecurity ignites in the Cold War, where the world tatters into two extreme ideologies, and “certain blood [is] shed for uncertain reasons”. Tim remains “politically naïve” until one day a draft notice flies into his pocket. He is conscripted to “fight a war he [hates]”---the Vietnam War. Confusion, rage, exasperation freeze his mind: Why me? I am not a hero! I am too good! I hate wars! But all of them melt into a “silent howl” inside his head. Tim’s summer job in a meatpacking plant allows him to envision himself as a soldier. “Standing for eight hours a day under a lukewarm blood shower”, holding a massive water gun, he “[removes] blood clots from the necks of the dead pigs”. The carcasses and the gore evoke the disturbing images of brutal and merciless battles in his mind. His body shivers and sweats run down in his face, as if he is torturing the political enemies, and their blood is splattering everywhere for absurd reasons. When he goes home, Tim is irritated by the obnoxious smell that “...
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...er, leaving only a tranquil mind to believe that life burden is more important than his dignity. He manages to conquer his insecurity and accepts the obligation to go to Vietnam. Tim calls himself a coward---a soldier that finds courage to fight in the “wrong war”.
Through his own experience, O’Brien develops the idea that self-respect erodes like a pebble in a river of insecurity. No matter how hard O’Brien tries to convince himself that he must listen to his conscience, he is unable to retreat from his burden. He might die in the wrong war! He might become one of the carcasses in the slaughterhouse! But he must do what he should do. In life when we believe that our self-respect is right, we are determined to follow our heart. However, when we encounter oppressive situations, we will not swim away from our insecurity, because “[we are] cowards, [we go] to war”.
Tim O’Brien begins his journey as a young “politically naive” man and has recently graduated out of Macalester College in the United States of America. O’Brien’s plan for the future is steady, but this quickly changes as a call to an adventure ruins his expected path in life. In June of 1968, he receives a draft notice, sharing details about his eventual service in the Vietnam War. He is not against war, but this certain war seemed immoral and insignificant to Tim O’Brien. The “very facts were shrouded in uncertainty”, which indicates that the basis of the war isn’t well known and perceived
Upon receiving his draft notice, O'brien was thrown into a world of what he calls "moral confusion"(44). As a 21 year-old, he follows every rule put forth in front of him, even though he says "he couldn't tolerate authority"(45). If O'brien didn't follow authority, though, he never would have been successful. This is one of the causes of his moral confusion. O'Brien has never had to make moral testing decisions in his life, like whether to face his family or to run to Canada. Another cause for his moral confusion was his stand on the war. He thought it was wrong for numerous reasons, such as not knowing why they were fighting. O'Brien would have gladly fought in a war that he believed in but the draft board didn't let him choose his war. All of these pressures came down to whether he would be the conformist of the past or believe in what he thought was right.
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.
Tim O'Brien especially expresses how he felt during a dire war situation. "For a long time I lay there all alone, listening to the battle, thinking I've been shot, I've been shot: all those Gene Autry movies I'd seen as a kid. In fact, I almost smiled, except then I started to think I might die." This quote helps contribute to the overall theme of the book because it demonstrates O'Brien's thought process in thinking he was about to die.
When given a chance to become a hero would you take it? Cowardice and courage are main themes in numerous of Tim O’Brien’s stories. “On the Rainy River”, a short story by O’Brien, the author uses a variety of figurative language, follows the conventional mythological structure with a twist, and the theme of cowardice.
Just as the pivotal moment arrived, in which O’Brien was to decide if he would go to Canada or not; fragments of his past and future arrived in front of him. These hallucinations were mainly what kept O’Brien from jumping overboard and swimming to the Canadian shores. The idea of everyone who was important to him no longer respecting him due to his conviction to his ethics, or even the idea that one of the decisions could lead to him not ending up with the family that he would later call his own. Moreover O’Brien could not handle the “audience to [his] life” judging the mental task at hand. A fear of embarrassment took precedence over all else with the eyes of the world looking back at him urging him one way or the other. Tim O’Brien had made his decision to go to war because he was afraid not
He talks about the time in his life that he is shameful of which he portrays as a type of confession about being a coward. The reason for the confession is that he debated and almost dodged the draft for the Vietnam War. “Certain blood was being shed for uncertain reasons” (O’Brien 38). The uncertainty that the people being drafted had with the United States agenda for the war was bewildering. The context of O’Brien’s fictional writing in the story has a certain context that is important to the story and with this background you can see Tim O’Brien’s assumed cowardliness in a different
He went to the bow of the boat and cried inside of a boat. It was very loud and very hard. Elroy was still with him so he just remained quiet and just kept fishing. Elroy was very quiet as if there was no one there, as if Tim was just in the boat and nothing around him but water and maybe some trees. I think at this moment Elroy know that going through this process is real. As they return home, Tim drives threw the whole town that he is familiar with and goes through certain forest such as the pine forest and to the prairie. After he passes through everything he wanted he was finally on his way to Vietnam where he would finally be a soldier. During the war he would survive but he says it wasn’t a happy ending because he felt like he was a coward. So my conclusion is that I see why he had second thoughts about going to war. The reason he had second thoughts is because he didn’t want to leave so many love ones and other people that were important to him. If that was me I probably would have second thoughts to because I don’t want to die early or leave everything behind. Tim also has second thoughts because he knows the consequences if he doesn 't go to the war. I feel his pain and what he was going through because this is a big step in life of what he had to go through. Now that he finally went to war I know that his family is most likely proud of what he did even though Tim isn’t proud of himself. During this whole story I know Tim experiences great courage and a whole new part of life. One last thing I think is that Tim might have overcame his fear of certain things and making a decision to overcome
The physical effects of war overwhelm the naïve causing pain and suffering. Initially, war entangles the lives of youth, destroying the innocence that they experience as an aspect of their life. The girl “glid[ing] gracefully down the path” (1) and the boy “rid[ing] eagerly down the road” (9) have their enjoyable realities striped by the harshness of war. Likewise, war enters women’s lives creating turmoil. The woman who works “deftly in the fields” ( ) no longer is able to experience the offerings of life. The “wire cuts,” ( ) pushing her away from the normal flow of life. In addition, man undergoes tragic obstacles as a result of war. “A man walks nobly and alone” ( ) before the horrible effects of war set in on his life causing disruptions. War enters the life of man destroying the bond man shares with his beloved environment ( ).
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
Tim O’Brien is drafted one month after graduating from Macalester College to fight a war he hated. Tim O’Brien believed he was above the war, and as a result pursued the alternative of escaping across the border to Canada. This understandable act is what Tim O’Brien considers an embarrassment to himself, and to others. When Tim O’Brien finds accommodation on the border to Canada, he meets Elroy Berdahl who eventually influences Tim O’Brien, to change. Elroy Berdahl acts as a mentor to Tim, a figure that remains detached in the sense that he must provide enough support and understanding without being attached to the results.
Life can bring unexpected events that individuals might not be prepared to confront. This was the case of O’Brien in the story, “On the Rainy River” from the book The Things They Carried. As an author and character O’Brien describes his experiences about the Vietnam War. In the story, he faces the conflict of whether he should or should not go to war after being drafted. He could not imagine how tough fighting must be, without knowing how to fight, and the reason for such a war. In addition, O’Brien is terrified of the idea of leaving his family, friends and everything he loves behind. He decides to run away from his responsibility with the society. However, a feeling of shame and embarrassment makes him go to war. O’Brien considers himself a coward for doing something he does not agree with; on the other hand, thinking about the outcome of his decision makes him a brave man. Therefore, an individual that considers the consequences of his acts is nobler than a war hero.
In The Things They Carried, an engaging novel of war, author Tim O’Brien shares the unique warfare experience of the Alpha Company, an assembly of American military men that set off to fight for their country in the gruesome Vietnam War. Within the novel, the author O’Brien uses the character Tim O’Brien to narrate and remark on his own experience as well as the experiences of his fellow soldiers in the Alpha Company. Throughout the story, O’Brien gives the reader a raw perspective of the Alpha Company’s military life in Vietnam. He sheds light on both the tangible and intangible things a soldier must bear as he trudges along the battlefield in hope for freedom from war and bloodshed. As the narrator, O’Brien displayed a broad imagination, retentive memory, and detailed descriptions of his past as well as present situations. 5. The author successfully uses rhetoric devices such as imagery, personification, and repetition of O’Brien to provoke deep thought and allow the reader to see and understand the burden of the war through the eyes of Tim O’Brien and his soldiers.
The narrator in “The Things They Carried” deals with the subjective conditions of war. Throughout the story, straining emotions often brought O’Brien’s teams emotions, especially after a death, causes a “crying jag” with a “heavy-duty hurt” (O’Brien 1185). The fury of emotion associated with death begins to erode the sharp minds of the soldiers and become mentally effective. After an event of large magnitude, it still began to take its toll on the protagonist as they often “carried all the emotional baggage of men who might dies” during the war (O’Brien 1187). The travesties that occurred with the brutality of war did not subside and began to affect those involved in a deeply emotional way. The multitude of disastrous happenings influenced the narrator to develop a psychological handicap to death by being “afraid of dying” although being “even more afraid to show it” (O’Brien 1187). The burden caused by the war creates fear inside the protagonist’s mind, yet if he were to display his sense of distress it would cause a deeper fear for those around him, thus making the thought of exposing the fear even more frightening. The emotional battle taken place in the psyche of the narrator is repressed directly by the war. The protagonist in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is also faced with the task of coping with mental
Behind every war there is supposed to be a moral—some reason for fighting. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. O’Brien relays to the readers the truth of the Vietnam War through the graphic descriptions of the man that he killed. After killing the man O’Brien was supposed to feel relief, even victory, but instead he feels grief of killing a man that was not what he had expected. O’Brien is supposed to be the winner, but ends up feeling like the loser. Ironically, the moral or lesson in The Things They Carried is that there is no morality in war. War is vague and illogical because it forces humans into extreme situations that have no obvious solutions.