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On The Rainy River Courage Quotes

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Fighting in a war has become an image of courage and honour. Those who fall in war are given status and respect. While those who survive are made to relive events of the war, retelling the experience of war allows soldiers to add details to make them seem more courageous than they might truly be. The story of On the Rainy River by Tim O’Brian tells a story of his lack of courage. O'Brien used his intelligence to find reasons that he should not go to war, such as not being able to survive or being better and thinks that there is no purpose for the Vietnam war and that there should be a reason for war. Though O'Brien fought against going to war, he decided to go, for his pride.

Courage and bravery are words to describe those who fight in wars. They are courageous for the acts that they have had to commit. People are praised for their survival …show more content…

Both boy scouts and girl scouts are given badges to commemorate their successes in survival. Some companies that give out medals for running certain distances. Backpackers are applauded for their survival abilities. Tim wasn’t one with survival skills; his reasons for thinking that he wouldn’t survive in a war are that “I hated Boy Scouts. I hated camping out. I hated dirt and tents and mosquitoes. The sight of blood made me queasy, and I couldn't tolerate authority, and I didn't know a rifle from a slingshot. I was a liberal, for Christ sake”. Through these doubts, acts of bravery and courage from those who have served their country would not matter to O'Brien. O'Brien's view on the Vietnam war was having those who “support a war” should be the ones who put their “own precious fluids on the line.” O'Brien wanted to stay out of the war by justifying his fear of going to war, through wanting those who support the war “to head for the front and hook up with an infantry unit and help spill the blood. And you have to bring along your wife, or your kids, or your lover. A law, I thought.”. O'Brien had occasions

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In If I Die in a Combat Zone, author Tim O’Brien argues that the Vietnam War was unjust by expressing his disapproval of the war through his own moral beliefs, sharing the descriptions of deaths in Vietnam of the innocent citizens, and by describing how much the war impacted himself and others negatively. In the beginning of the book, O’Brien openly stated his beliefs on the war. He believed it was wrongly accepted and unjust, but he battled his own opinions with society’s views anyway (18). Constantly, O’Brien discussed within his own head about the true definition of bravery and courage (147).

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Summary Of Imagine Dying By Rick Loomis

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No civilian has the right to describe the experience of a bloody war if they have never stepped foot onto the battlefield. In addition, nobody can fully comprehend war until they experience it firsthand. While deciding whether or not he should go to war, O’Brien felt disappointed in how his family and friends “were sending [him] off to fight a war they did not understand and did not want to understand” (O’Brien 43). People back at home and in society sometimes put an immense amount of pressure on particular people to go to war. It is unfair for society to pressure an individual into fighting a war because they are completely unaware of the role war will play in that person’s life forever until they die.

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Summary Of On The Rainy River By Tim O Brien

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In addition, Tim O’Brien conveys how society’s view on cowardice leads to the feeling of guilt in soldiers in the Vietnam War. In “On The Rainy River”, O’Brien claims that he opposes the Vietnam War, and he sees no reason for the war. However, against his own will, he is drafted and is required to go to war. O’Brien reacts negatively to this saying, “All I wanted was to live the life I was born to... now I was off on the margins of exile, leaving my country forever, and it seemed so impossible and terrible and sad,” (50 and 51).

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Things They Carried By Tim O Brien: A Literary Analysis

1292 Words | 6 Pages

O’Brien presents a variety of stories to present the complexity of war. “On The Rainy River” is a pre-war

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Courage In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

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In the novel The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien expresses to the reader why the men went to the war and continued to fight it. In the first chapter, “The Things They Carried,” O’Brien states “It was not courage, exactly; the object was not valor. Rather they were too frightened to be cowards.” The soldiers went to war not because they were courageous and ready to fight, but because they felt the need to go. They were afraid and coped with their lack of courage by telling stories (to themselves or aloud) and applied humor to the situations they encountered.

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Compare And Contrast Ambush And The Ghost Soldier

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In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien explores the contrast between who we are and what we do, especially in “Ambush” and “The Ghost Soldiers”. In these stories, O’Brien becomes separated from his own actions and makes choices that contradict what he knows to be his personal morals and values, demonstrating how the emotional toll of war can separate a person from their “true” self. In “Ambush” (assuming the story is true), O’Brien recounts a time when he took the life of a young Vietnamese soldier who didn’t see O’Brien as he walked along a trail. O’Brien describes how the man posed no real threat to him, but something drove him to throw a grenade onto the trail.

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The soldiers in the Vietnam War are portrayed as losing themselves in the chaos and trauma of combat. Through the stories of the soldiers and their experiences, O’Brien explores the ways in which war strips away one's sense of identity and humanity. The author himself is depicted as losing himself in the war. O'Brien served in the Vietnam War, and his experiences inspired much of the book. Through the character of Tim O'Brien, the author explores the ways in which war can strip away one's sense of self and purpose.

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PTSD In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

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This quote epitomizes the trauma caused by war. O’Brien is trying to cope, mostly through writing these war stories but has yet to put it behind him. He feels guilt, grief, and responsibility, even making up possible scenarios about the life of the man he killed and the type of person he was. This

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Examples Of If I Die In A Combat Zone

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In the chapter titled “On the Rainy River,” O'Brien explores the idea of fleeing the country to avoid the war, or staying to go to a war he doesn't believe in. He speaks of who he would disappoint if he were to take the easy way out and flee to Canada, and what he could lose by going to fight for his country. He becomes conflicted with the guilt that he feels for running away and the fear that he has for going to war. An example of the fear he has is when O'Brien writes, “Beyond all this, or at the very center, was the rar fact of terror. I did not want to die.

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Shame In The Things They Carried

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(CE) Before O'Brien heard about the war, he realized the war was something he did not want to participate in. (DE) He says to himself that [he] would not swim away from [his] hometown and [his] country and [his] life. [He] would not be brave” (O’Brien 55).

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The Vietnam War leaves a legacy of moral confusion with each and every soldier who serves. Soldiers are fighting for a cause they do not necessarily believe in, killing people who do not necessarily deserve it, and watching their brothers die beside them. Tim O’Briens’ book, The Things They Carried, illustrates the soldiers struggle to define morality throughout the confusion of the war. On the Rainy River, Tim O’Brien faces what he feels is his moral obligation to answer his country’s call and fight in Vietnam, and a personal moral issue with the reason for the war.

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He fought a war in Vietnam that he knew nothing about, all he knew was that, “Certain blood was being shed for uncertain reasons” (38). He realized that he put his life on the line for a war that is surrounded in controversy and questions. Through reading The Things They Carried, it was easy to feel connected to the characters; to feel their sorrow, confusion, and pain. O’Briens ability to make his readers feel as though they are actually there in the war zones with him is a unique ability that not every author possess.

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This is evident when Mr. O’Brien says, “I would go to the war – I would kill and maybe die – because I was embarrassed not to,” (pg. 57.) In the end the author realized what he must do and went back home, so he could fight in the Vietnam

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