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On The Rainy River Sparknotes

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The desire for autonomy is prevalent among individuals when challenged, however, some may reassess their initial motivations, and reconsider pursuing complete independence. The short story “On the Rainy River” written by Tim O’Brien, explores his attempts at balancing the desire for independence, without sacrificing previous, deep connections. Tim aspires for society's norms to align with his ideas, in an effort to combat his fear of losing meaningful relationships from crushing his ambitions. And as Tim becomes more initiative toward his goal, his need to maintain a meaningful relationship overwhelms him with anxiety. Anxiety over perceptions of his family and loved ones, leading him to blame his inability to flee to Canada on his fear of …show more content…

Aiming to strike a balance between personal autonomy and the need for meaningful connections. Tim, when nearing the end of his boat ride with Elroy, is forced to be confronted by his choice of independence or relationship. As his choice becomes clearer, he says “it had nothing to do with morality.Embarrassment, that's all it was' ' referring to being embarrassed amongst the hallucinations that were cheering and booing him to cross the river. This narrative shift from Tim talking about the strength of his desire, to being embarrassed shows Tim attempting to balance his yearn for independence with the need for maintaining relationships. Because he pins blame on embarrassment, he saves himself the torture of admitting his “desire” wasn't strong enough to compete with his need to conform to societal expectations. As Tim and Elroy swim away from the Canadian side of the river, Tim has lost a war of his own, against societal pressure and as he “[cries ] loud, hard crying” the author shows how he doesn't believe himself to be like one of his heroes from his youth. Referenced earlier when said “Behave like the heroes of our youth, bravely and forthrightly, without thought of personal loss” Tim couldn't put aside the personal loss associated with the following of his desires, leading to accepting a life of a

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Throughout the story, Tim faced internal conflict as he struggled with the decision of whether to join his father in supporting the Tories or fighting them with Sam. For example, Tim says to Sam in a moment of desperation, ”Don’t come any closer, Sam, or I’ll

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780 Words | 4 Pages

The River Runs Salt, Runs Sweet is a great book that I highly recommend anybody to read. The River Runs Salt, Runs Sweets should be read for the understanding of a Bosnian victim that had to endure, during a war, loss, perseverance, and the need to survive. The love and heartbreak that is expressed in the book is an eye opener, and is something that many people take advantage of. The River Runs Salt, Runs Sweet gives many individuals, especially to those who are closed minded when it comes to war, another perspective to the behind scenes. War has a physical and emotional toll on many individuals who don’t have anything to do with the war.

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Life was very loyal and he gets in return was death by the people he was so loyal to. Tims for sure doesn’t expect his dad to die by the Loyalists maybe the Patriots or some robbers but definitely not the people Life showed so much loyalty to. Tim is upset because his dad gets killed by his side on the war. And this shows Tim that loyalty is not rewarded. Life’s loyalty not being rewarded directs Tim to

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910 Words | 4 Pages

Tim would have expected Life to be the most safe one of their family due to his loyalty to Britain, but he was captured anyway. The death of Life Meeker makes Tim develop a strong hatred toward the Loyalists due to the fact that they do not value loyalty or care about the innocent, such as this instance. Tis develops Tim’s final decision of neutrality is influenced by Jerry’s death because both the British and Patriots caused the death of the ones he cared most

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839 Words | 4 Pages

Pg 178. At this lodge he met an older gentlemen named Elroy Berdahl, Tim had spent a total of 6 days at this lodge, where he learnt a lot about himself, Throughout the stay, Elroy never asked much about Tim; where he had come from, what he was running from, anything about his family. On the last day, Elroy had taken him out to go ‘’fishing’’ where they crossed the Canadian border, here is where Tim lost himself briefly, He thought about jumping and swimming across, He looked for reassurance, thinking ‘’ What would you do, would you jump?’’ He did this in his head but acted like he was talking to a different person. He then visioned his family and how they opposed what he was doing, his friends and future family as well.

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721 Words | 3 Pages

When Tim first got the draft letter in the mail he was unsure of what to think and thought “[he] was too good for this war”(P.39), so fleeing to the Rainy River would give him a break to truly listen and connect with his body and make a decision. Although there was a moment in the story when he wanted to go to Canada and be able to see freedom for the first time in a long time it also “separated one life from another. ”(P.45) The separation between his two lives was the breaking points the made him realize what his choice had to be; however, he didn't fully understand what his choice was until he was on the boat with Elroy Berdahl, the owner. Without Elroy having to say anything he realized that going to fight in the war would be the best thing for himself and everyone around him, as a result, that was how he was influenced to go to the war instead of

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901 Words | 4 Pages

The river gave and took from the Macleans, highlighting how the river connects the characters emotionally and spiritually, providing inspiration and comfort. As Norman’s father reflects on his relationship with his son Paul, he notes, “We can love completely without complete understanding” (Maclean 117). This quote shows how the river is a powerful metaphor for the depth and complexity of human relationships. This shows how the river constantly connects to people Norman and Paul never met but somehow felt connected to all that has something to do with the river. This helps uncover the mask of the river and how the weird spiritual connections flow from a higher power and keep the world flowing.

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612 Words | 3 Pages

Reader Response of “On the Rainy River” The short story “On the Rainy River” by Tim O 'Brien explains to the audience that all men are influenced to go into war, and that they should hide the fears and emotions that they may have along the journey. Throughout the short story the author explains his journey and opens up about his emotions when he was sent to war. Being the audience of this short story explains to you what every man must go through if they were to be sent to war.

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691 Words | 3 Pages

My Kiowa Grandmother was taken from the book, The Way to Rainy Mountain by N. Scott Momaday. Momaday writes about his native tribe the Kiowa’s and grandmother because he wants to live it! He wants to feel, understand his roots, travel back in time. At his grandmother’s death, he decides to learn more about the Kiowa tribe by going to the funeral. The primary aim is Literary aim and secondary aim is Expressive aim.

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1184 Words | 5 Pages

In “On the Rainy River” Tim struggles to make a decision on whether he should fight for his country in the war or flee to Canada. Tim did not believe in the war. He was an innocent young man, freshly graduated from college with a naive view of the world. “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.” (Page 3/Paragraph 8)

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1205 Words | 5 Pages

In the short story, “On the Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien, the author develops the idea that when an individual experiences a feeling of shame and humiliation, they often tend to neglect their desires and convictions to impress society. Tim, the narrator, starts off by describing his feeling of embarrassment, “I’ve had to live with it, feeling the shame”, before even elaborating on the cause of the feeling. Near the end of the story, he admits he does not run off and escape to Canada because it had nothing to do with his, “mortality...Embarrassment, that’s all it was”. The narrator experiences this feeling of intense shame and then he decides that he will be “a coward” and go to war. His personal desire is that he wishes to live a normal life and could never imagine himself charging at an enemy position nor ever taking aim at another human being.

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672 Words | 3 Pages

There was no sense of morality or politics or duty. Tim completed what he was trained to do, and that was to defend the camp against the enemy. The lone soldier was the enemy. Later Tim views his actions as impulsive and regrets throwing the grenade, despite his peers’ support. Tim declares, “Sometimes I forgive myself, sometimes I don’t.

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1756 Words | 8 Pages

I went to the war.” (last paragraph 58) This helps us understand that going to war was not an accomplishment for Tim. He regretted not running away and hated that he went.

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995 Words | 4 Pages

Consequently, after floating in the river, his main mindset is getting back to Catherine. The river helps him become the man he should be before he becomes a father. He is transformed out of the careless man he was into a mature, respectable, and caring man to catch up to Catherine’s maturity. In fact, his worries and desires switched from the honor of being a Lieutenant to anything but the war. He did not believe in the honors of serving in the war.

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837 Words | 4 Pages

The societal and social pressures weighing on Tim’s mind were explained well in paragraph 28, “My conscience told me to run, but some irrational and powerful force was resisting, like a weight pushing me toward the war.” With Tim’s extreme isolation, it was no surprise that these pressures could manifest in unusual ways. Towards the end of the short, Tim imagines a situation in which his family, friends, strangers, and prominent social figures were yelling at him from the Canadian shore. The societal isolation influenced who was there and what they were yelling. No card burning protesters were there to cheer him on, possibly because a week without the media pushed those memories aside.

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