Morals And Nationalism In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

The misfortune brought about by war often leads to contradiction, between morals and nationalism. Tim O’Brien, author of The Things They Carried served as a soldier throughout the Vietnam war. Tim O’Brien was hesitant to fight and considered dodging the draft, or registering as a conscientious objector, through his novel and later experiences readers can begin to understand why. Reports of riots against the war, along with writings by dodge drafters as well as conscientious objectors help concrete why to and not to go to war as portrayed through Tim O'brien's The Things They Carried. The Vietnam War resulted in 58, 159 American casualties not including those wounded (Brenner xxii). Acts such as killing others went against the Bible, the war

Numerous draft dodgers took refuge in Canada, an option O'Brien weighed heavily, he says, ¨I thought about Canada. I thought about jail. But in the end I could not bear the prospect of rejection: by my family, my country, my friends, my hometown. I would risk conscience and rectitude before risking the loss of love¨ (O’ Brien 4). Draft dodgers were meant to be punished but authorities were inconsistent with upholding to their threats. There was an approximated 570,000 draft offenders, of these only 25,00 were actually indicted and only 4,000 were ever imprisoned (Simons 40). Donald Simmons fled to Canada after being denied conscientious objector (CO) status. Simmons was one of some 80,000 American draft dodgers and deserters who sought sanctuary in Canada (Fennell 1). Others found refuge in places such as Israel and others Amsterdam. The Canadians welcomed Americans openly and began to appreciate and learn them, ¨´The presence of the draft dodgers,¨ says Vance, ¨forced us to think about our involvement in a potentially unjust war¨´(Fennell 2). Many Americans found more than an escape in Canada, some claim ¨´It gave us a life¨´(Fenell 3). In some cases American men even built families with Canadian