Rainy River Essay

During “On the Rainy River” O’Brien is plagued by a “moral split”, both fearing “the war” and fearing “exile” and “ridicule” after being drafted for the Vietnam war. Contemplating escaping to Canada, O’Brien drives to a lodge in Minnesota. There, an eighty-one year old man named Elroy Berdahl, the hero of O’Brien’s life, brings the conflicted author to a crossroad. There, on the Rainy River, O’Brien, embarrassed, pressured, and fearful decides that he will “not be brave” and, instead, decides to

his society’s: is he a seventeenth-century Puritan, or a 1970s Vietnam war veteran? Surprisingly, both. While they are dramatically distinct in character morality and epiphanies, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown and Tim O’Brien’s On The Rainy River share a setting of isolation in nature with a single guide as company for the protagonist and a confrontation between social pressure and personal morality. The two stories’ forested settings share a sense of solitude and enormity in which the

Tim O'brien's "On the Rainy River" Tim O'brien's "On the Rainy River" is a true story told by a 41 year old of his life at the age of 21. The fact that O'brien is writing this 20 years later adds a new aspect to the story. He describes himself as a young man with the world in his back pocket. O'brien has just graduated from Macalester College and has a free ride to Harvard. Unfortunately, his storybook world collapses when he receives a draft notice for the Vietnam war, a war that he

Tim O’Brien wrote ‘On The Rainy River’ in his collection of short-stories entitled ‘The Things They Carried’ to tell the story of his life being an American soldier. This excerpt showcases the story of O’Brien getting drafted into the Vietnam war, and considers fleeing to Canada to become a draft-dodger. Through reading this, one could presume that pressures from society can affect your actions and perspective on yourself. In the beginning of this short story, Tim gets accepted into Harvard for graduate

In Tim O’Brien’s short story, On the Rainy River, O’Brien uses a lot of imagery to create the tone in the story. The whole story is layered in imagery but, there are two spots in the story that really creates good tones in the story. The two big tones that are represented in the story are disgust and truth. The tone of disgust is created when he talks about the pig factory and how he discusses the horrors inside. He says lots of words that describe this disgustingness. Some of the examples he says

When we are faced with a moral dilemma, our illusion clashes with reality causing us to learn more about our true self. It is then that we become unable to sustain our illusions, and therefore lose a part of our perceived identity. Through On the Rainy River, Tim O’Brien reflects upon his illusion of courage, and his clash with reality, which caused him to realize his “secret reservoir of courage” didn’t hold much. Upon his realization, Tim lost a significant part of his perceived identity- his courage

spread of communism in Vietnam, but was it worth the death of millions of people including innocent civilians? Can conforming to society standards be more important to someone than pursuing their own personal desires? In the short story “On the Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien it shows how an individual’s belief is hard to sustain when there is a lot of pressure from society. The short story states that individuals may have to alter their own beliefs and values to fit in with individuals and society’s

The Vietnam War was a troubling time for Tim O’Brien. He battles with himself over a decision he makes, which makes him feel like a coward. He tells of a personal experience he has shared with no one not even his wife. His short story “On the Rainy River” is absolutely captivating. In this true story he uses a plethora of literary devices that leads the reader from beginning to end to visualize, feel, and sympathize with him as he tells his personal and emotional battle. In June of 1968 O’Brien was

Tim O’brien in chapter 4 “Rainy River” in The Things They Carried claims that courage comes “to us in finite quantities like an inheritance”. He claims that courage can be stashed away until the day that it's needed like money. Obriens use of complex sentences and serious tone affects the reader in a strong way making his argument look more correct . O’briens argument about courage was shown well however, i didn't feel it was effective because, I simply didn't agree with his argument. O’briens

1.“I would go to war-I would kill and die-because I was embarrassed not to.” (57) This quote is from the chapter “On The Rainy River”. This story is about Tim O’Brien, and Tim does not want to go to Vietnam because he thinks the war is wrong. He decided to go to Canada, but instead stayed for about a week at the border between Canada and the U.S.A.. One day, he went fishing and thought about if his family and friends thought about him as a bad person and became embarrassed. Due to his embarrassment