Box Me Home Analysis

He nervously says, “All my aunts and uncles were there, and Abraham Lincoln, and saint George, and several members of the United States Senate..”(85-87.) The Readers obviously know that Tim isn’t seeing these famous figures because there is no way four dead presidents were having a party with him in the middle of Tim trying to escape to Canada. Tim just wanted to live a normal teenage life after all, so when he got the sudden news about being drafted, he didn’t know what to exactly do which lead him to the point of hallucinating. This exaggeration emphasizes the heavy weight on the young man's shoulders and how much it's affecting

He states that “[He] would go to war- [He] would kill and maybe die- because [He] was embarrassed” (O’Brien 57). He soon realized that he should have escaped when he had the chance because it was better than experiencing the horrors and traumatic experiences that soldiers go through. Sometimes what society thinks can get the best of you and lead you to do things that are against your beliefs and morals. This is what Tim is trying to say through the book to the readers who might find themselves in similar situations.

Courage is the ability to stand up for ones beliefs and ethics that the Army has been bestowed on them, despite the danger they may face on duty. Courage which is the result of training and discipline is the kind upon which the control of men in battle is based. With such courage, the man when facing

Having a Harvard degree he believes that he is too good to fight. He expresses his opinion with his attitude, tone and message. In the book On the Rainy River O’Brien expresses his thoughts about going to war. “At some point in mid-July I began thinking seriously about Canada. The border lay a few hundred miles north, and eight hour drive. Both my conscience and my instincts were telling me to make a break for it, just take off and run like hell and never stop” (O'Brien 173). Tim’s tone of anger shows he is against going to war, saying that he was close to making a break for Canada. Tim O’Brien’s writing expressed the thoughts people being drafted to war. Despite Tom’s hatred of the draft, Paine and Whitman carry one similar

The conflict begins when Tim O’Brien gets a draft notice in the mail, he quickly leaves soon after leaving his parents a note explaining things. He gets in his car and drives to house near the border of the U.S. There he meets Elroy Berdahl, who lets him stay while he decides whether to go to Canada or the war. The whole time Tim stays at the house Elroy never asks him about why is there or tells him he should go to the war or not. He respects his privacy and never says anything to

In the chapter “On The Rainy River” this plays a plays a huge role in Tim’s ultimate decision to go into the war after being drafted instead of fleeing the country. Tim felt the pressure from everyone around him to fight for his country even if he didn’t agree with the war itself, Tim decided “I would go to war - I would kill and maybe die - because I was embarrassed not to.” (O’Brien 57). When he puts it that way it seems ridiculous but he knew the people around him would never see him the same way if he didn’t.

Through the initial characterization of young Tim, O’Brien suggests that when faced with unexpected life changing dilemmas people will more often than naught end up clouded judgement and panic. Young Tim is ambitious and well educated, he is on his way to Harvard University on a scholarship. His life is heading in the best direction possible. This is until he receives the draft letter. His ideals “hurtling down a huge black funnel” and all he can do is “nothing …wait.” His helpless soon becomes rage, rage towards the government who’s motives for the war “were shrouded in uncertainty”. He is “too good for this war. Too smart, too compassionate, too everything.” “Why don’t they “draft some back-to-the-stone-age hawk?” Why must he, who doesn’t support this “uncertain” war “put [his] own precious fluids on the line.” As “the rage in [his] stomach” “burned down” he soon

It all began in 1968, when Tim O'brien receive a draft notice. Tim was bound for Harvard and thinks he’s too good for war. He doesn’t really want to go to Vietnam, so he decide to run away to Canada which he knew was wrong. When he got to Canada, he finds an old resort called the Tip Top Lodge. Its owner was Elroy Berdahl who O’brien says saved his life. O’Brien stays there for six days. On the last day, Elroy takes O’brien fishing in the rainy river. Elroy stopped within swimming distance to Minnesota and O’brien was faced with dilemma: jump and swim or stay. He started crying and on the other side, he sees hallucination of his family, and friends. He was too scared to jump, so Elroy steers back to the lodge. He left the next morning, drove back home, and heads to Vietnam.

A key technique that Tim O'Brien used in order to express his attitude towards the war, was the one of repetition. We see a young Tim O’Brien try to justify his reasons for fleeing the USA by crossing the border to Canada and trying to explain his feelings by saying, “What would you do? Would you jump? Would you feel pity for yourself? Would you think about your family and your childhood and your dreams and all you're leaving behind? Would it hurt? Would it feel like dying? Would you cry, as I did?”. We see repetition predominantly used throughout this passage and it gives us a clearer indication of what his attitude towards the war actually was. The use of repetition makes the reader think about how they would have reacted in a similar situation.

This was part of the reason for him to think about his own morals and go to war. Although Tim did get himself to go to the dreaded war, he felt like he went against what he believed and saw himself as a coward. He didn’t know what was to come of the war, so the only thing he could think of was what he was going to be forced to do. To illustrate, when Tim left the cabin he had a reflection of is near future. “

He kept thinking about them during the war as motivation, so the he would get through it in one piece. In the book Tim is pretending to talk to Linda and it says, “"Well, right now," she said, "I'm not dead. But when I am, it's like ... I don't know, I guess it's like being inside a book that nobody's reading." "A book?"

In addition, despite John telling Owen “I can’t do it,” (Irving 508), Owen comforts him enough to go through with it simply by saying “DON’T BE AFRAID,” (Irving 508). Although Owen’s method of evading the war was extreme, Owen was able to give John the push he needed to admit that he did not want to fight in Vietnam. Elroy gave Tim a similar push by taking him out on the water. Tim admits “My conscience told me to run, but some irrational and powerful force was resisting, like a weight pushing me toward the war” (O’Brien 54). Tim knew that his place was in Vietnam, but didn’t have the courage to confront his doubts. Elroy gives Tim the opportunity he needs to come to terms with his anxiety and Tim expresses this when he says “I’ll never be certain, of course, but I think he meant to bring me up against the realities, to guide me across the river and to take me to the edge and to stand a kind of vigil as I chose a life for myself” (O’Brien

The United States started fighting in the Vietnam War in 1964. In order to fight, the country issued a conscription, requiring all men between 18 and 25 years of age to help the nation by fighting in the war. Many men were forced to fight in a war they had no interest or inclination to fight in.Tim O’Brien was one of the numerous men who were drafted into the war. Although Tim O’Brien lost several things by going to Vietnam, he gained multiple unexpected things.

Tim starts the novel out with all the objects that the men carry, he ends the novel with all the burdens that he carries after the war. All men carried the weight of their objects, along with the memories each object carried. Although Tim never comes out and directly say what he carries, throughout the novel he shares stories that bring him guilt, sorrow and anger, which ultimately indirectly shows the readers what he carried. All of Tim’s emotional burdens are intensified by the fact that he did not want to be involved in the war to begin with, his young age and the fact that he is extremely inexperienced. He did not want to kill. From the beginning, Tim used explicit details to show what the experience was like for the scared men. Post war, all the men coped differently, Tim wrote to cope with the emotional burdens. Everyone of the chapters tells a story about either love, loss, fear, anger and guilt. He entered the war a scared young man, afraid to bring disappointment and disapproval to his family's name and left war a guilt ridden middle aged man, afraid to think about what he experienced, until Norman Bowker suggested he write about his stories and share them with the

He believes that their is a possibility that people are needlessly dying for a war that doesn’t make any sense. This makes him an outsider in his hometown because the way that he views this war is vastly different from his home town. Tim doesn’t get the sense of pride in his country for joining the war like his community does, and he asks questions about the war that he feels that his community won’t ask because of their patriotism, and viewing the war as something to be proud of.