preview

How Does Tim O Brien Show Courage

Decent Essays

Tim O’Brien felt and believed that he would be jeopardizing his own soul by killing people in the Vietnam War, which he views as immoral. He was convinced and persuaded that war was wrong and evil, since people were losing their lives as a result of it. He makes a decision to desert due to the belief that this is the only moral choice. It is however unfortunate that O’Brien lacks the courage to desert and hence, he lets himself to be sent to Vietnam War. “I simply couldn’t bring myself to flee. Family, the home town, friends, history, tradition, fear, confusion, exile: I could not run,”(O’Brien 68). O’Brien does not specifically mention courage, but he calls himself a coward for having considered running away.
Being a coward was not highly looked upon and he knew that he would be labeled a coward if he fled. He came to the realization that he …show more content…

Clearly, as demonstrated by Arizona, one of the soldiers killed, an important element of courage is not to back away from challenges. Arizona did not hide when his troop was being attacked, but instead, he followed his captain in pursuit of the enemy, but unfortunately, he was shot. This concept of not backing down is further supported on pages 134 and 135, when O’Brien talks about one of his experiences with a bully as a young boy in middle school. O’Brien was pushed out of the line by a bully while he was waiting for the school bus, and though he was puny compared to the bully, he stood up for himself. The bully announced there was going to be a fight between him and O’Brien on Monday. Monday morning came around, and he had a decision to make. Would he back down from this bully, or would he be courageous enough to withstand the bully? O’Brien showed up to school and fought the bully. It ended up being a draw. O’Brien mentions that, “ Honor was clearly at stake,”(O’Brien 135). Clearly, being honorable is also a necessary component of having

Get Access