Archetypes On The Rainy Road

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

The short story “On The Rainy River” is written through the perspective of O’Brien in present day and as a young faced with a draft notice for Vietnam War. In “On The Rainy River,” O’brien portrays the importance of bravery in an individual through the use of symbolism, powerful tone, and reflective point of view.

In Thomas C. Foster’s “How to Read Literature like a Professor”, myth and archetype are thoroughly discussed and analyzed. Some of these themes are exemplified in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s work, The Yellow Wallpaper, in which a nameless narrator experiences her own personal hell, driven into madness by her improper psychiatric treatment. Gilman’s text is not only a story of a woman who is essentially driven into the underground, but also a criticism of society’s view of women and mental illness. She describes the narrator’s descent as a journey, through the use of symbolism and her treatment as a mentally ill woman.

In Tim O’Brien’s fictional narrative “On the Rainy River,” the narrator faces the dilemma of avoiding the draft or submitting and going to Vietnam, a common predicament that many men faced after receiving draft cards for the Vietnam War. O’Brien displays the thought process of the narrator as he makes a decision, and near the beginning, the narrator describes certain qualities that he believes make him “too good for [that] war”(2). He lists off achievements like “president of the student body” and “full-ride scholarship,” arguing for the idea that he is “above” going to war(O’Brien 2). Through explaining what the narrator believes to be superior traits, the reader might begin to ask, “What types of people actually went to the war?” If the narrator feels that he was above going to Vietnam, there must be some preconceived notion of who was expected to serve. After seeing how the narrator reacted to his call to battle, a question is left of whether the draft was fair in relation to social classes.

In Tim O’Brien’s short story, On the Rainy River, O’Brien wrestles with ideas of social conformity in the midst of a national crisis while struggling to find who he is and his place in a polarized era. Written in the Vietnam War’s aftermath, O’Brien presents his struggles of defining himself as a young draftee while discerning who he is as an adult long after. O’Brien receives a draft notice and undergoes an identity crisis regarding what part he will play in the war, but runs to Canada on an impulse, arriving near the border. When he is about to cross, O’Brien betrays his conscience and returns to his hometown to answer his summons. Through the application of a historical lens, one can gather much about the divided attitudes on the positions on war and the reflection of these feelings as the polarization dies down in upon its publication.

The short story that will be discussed, evaluated, and analyzed in this paper is a very emotionally and morally challenging short story to read. Michael Meyer, author of the college text The Compact Bedford Introduction to Literature, states that the author of How to Tell a True War Story, Tim O’Brien, “was drafted into the Vietnam War and received a Purple Heart” (472). His experiences from the Vietnam War have stayed with him, and he writes about them in this short story. The purpose of this literary analysis is to critically analyze this short story by explaining O’Brien’s writing techniques, by discussing his intended message and how it is displayed, by providing my own reaction,

In the novel, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, the author takes the reader into the fictional world of Amir and Hassan, two best friends who face the untold realities of their childhood as they struggle to cope with guilt and heartbreaking losses. The story is told from the perspective of Amir, a Pashtun who grows up in a privileged society and lives with his father, Baba and his best friend and Hazara servant, Hassan. One of the major turning points in the story occurs when Amir leaves Hassan to be raped by a bully, ruining their relationship for the rest of his life. While dealing with the guilt of betraying Hassan, who he later learns is his half-brother, Amir learns shocking truths about his father that alter his perspective of Baba

The Things they Carried by Tim O'brien is a collection of war stories about the Vietnam war. These stories cover the struggles of being a soldier and highlight the morale of the army during the war. However, one of the stories sticks out by flashing back to a civilian right after he was drafted. This character was at “a moral split” (O'brien 42). He found himself conflicted between his principles and society's expectation that one should support their country- whether he should run away from the war or participate . This contradiction points towards an overarching idea that patriotism often places implausible expectations on civilians regarding their service and patriotism because residents want their country to be the best. This leads to

1. The River – Almost any source of water will focus on the importance of life. Without water there is no life. A journey on or down a river is often a metaphor for life’s journey or a character’s journey, especially if the river is shown as a road or means of travel – pulling or pushing a character through changes. (Twain’s Huck Finn) Rivers can also be a metaphor for the passage of time (Big Fish) or the stages of a human life (creek, roaring river, sea; or the crossing of the river Styx in Greek myths). Since rivers are often used as political borders or boundaries, crossing one may be seen as a “passing over” or a decision that cannot be taken back. In Africa, and thus African literature, rivers are the

Great job with you Initial Post, I loved how you picked the perfect archetype for the commercial. This commercial is comical in a way so that fits in with the jester archetype, Some people may have gotten this confused with the heroic one. Just on the fact that so many people consider lebron a hero. Im definelty going to be taking some pointers from you next time, because you went into detail how this commercail is bootsing someone's status. Honestly I would have never thought of that.The only thing I would suggest is to use more Transitional Phrases. Other than that the commercial was hilarious and you did an exceptional job. Keep it

For ages, people have been debating the idea of human morality and whether or not at its core humanity is good or bad. This philosophy is explored in Cormac McCarthy’s novel, The Road. The road is the story of a man and boy living in a post-apocalyptic world. Some cataclysmic event has crippled Earth’s natural ecosystem, leaving the skies engulfed in ash and the ground devoid of much life. The duo aim to journey south as a way to escape being frozen to death in the oncoming winter. During their journey, the boy and man come across different people and places that give them a better understand of what humanity has become and where they stand on that spectrum. Throughout The Road, McCarthy revisits the idea of being the “good guy” when there is no longer a need to, “carrying the fire” as it’s detailed in the book. The dichotomy between the boy’s moral conscience and the man’s selfish ideals helps develop McCarthy’s idea of humanity losing its selflessness in the face of danger.

In his novel The Road Cormac McCarthy uses a post-apocalyptic setting to help broaden the debate over moral good and evil. Not only do the main characters in his novel display either good or evil in their actions, but so do the people they encounter on their journey. These encounters are shaped by the moral decisions each individual makes. In this novel’s setting it is hard to define good and evil, but the choices made can still be applied to a non-apocalyptic world. McCarthy uses the experiences of the main characters to demonstrate that no matter what the scenario good will overcome evil.

Once there was a woman who told a story. However, she had more than just an entertaining tale to tell. She chose common images that everyone would understand, and she wrapped her story around them, and in this way she was able to teach the people . . .

Archetypes are patterns from which other elements or ideas are derived. It can be something physical or symbolic, always capable of generating something more from themselves. You can also consider the archetype as an example. From the archetype, they shape behaviors and ways of thinking that are constructed by imitation or in search of similarity.

As most of the people in American spent time thinking about clothing and feeding themselves and their families, the rarely spend time thinking about philosophical issues. Tim O’Brien says that he jars people to look into important things, meaning that he makes people look into the deeper meaning of the issues reflected in his novels instead of focusing on the basic issues alone. This paper will analyze the important aspects that are reflected in the Novel In the Lake of the Woods and the article The Vietnam in Me by Tim O’Brien.