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Shame In The Rainy River

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War. War never changes. People will always march off at their nation’s behest to kill and be killed. To maim and be maimed. This is a truth embedded within the nature of mankind. And just as inevitable as war itself, are the effects that it has on its participants. Wars change the people that fight in them and one thing in particular causes people to behave differently and can ultimately change them. That one thing is shame. Shame is a powerful motivator for people in general, and when it is applied to war, the effects can be great. It can motivate people to go to war, and dictate what actions they take while they are there. O’Brien’s own personal experience in “On the Rainy River” shows how the fear of shame is a powerful motivator in
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Truism: A man you have never met, might be the man to save your life. Elaboration: In the story “ On the Rainy River”, A Young man named Tim was drafted into war, and his only escape was Canda. Along his trip he came across a cabin owned by Elroy. Elroy gave Tim food and shelter, and gave him a chance to make an life changing decision.

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‘’I was a coward. I went to the war’’ Pg187. In the short story, ‘’On The Rainy River’’ by Tim O’Brien, The protagonist faces a difficult life decision, he did not want to conform to society the way others wanted him to. He wanted to keep his personal beliefs. Tim O’Brien does not want to conform no matter how vital it is that he should.

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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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When talking about war, there are many books with few answers to what war truly is. Barbara Ehrenreich brings forth not only the possibilities towards understanding war but also the passion people from history have had towards it. One key issue she brings to light is humanities love for war, so much so that people would use excuses like holy wars to justify their need to fight in a war. She declares that war is as muddled as the issue of diseases and where diseases came from around 200 years ago. More so than that she even goes further on to state that these rituals that date back to prehistoric times are the cause of human nature during times of war rather than human instinct.

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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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In a desperate attempt for peace, as ironic as it may be, we create chaos, resulting in the death of millions at a time. Firearms burn bright in the dim sun, exposing the vibrancy of blood-stained suits. As the bullets penetrate skin, the life of another innocent individual has already been lost. Families never to hear a last, “I love you” before their loved one tragically passes in a loud, chaotic mess. They run towards the danger, knowing exactly what result the soldiers might have gotten in the gamble of life or death.

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Regret is a powerful emotion that has the ability to scar someone for the rest of their life. Moments of regret can come from relationships, self-made decisions and life changing events. The idea of regret also applies to “A Marker on the Side of the Boat” by Bao Ninh and “On the Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien. Although these two literary pieces are very different in many ways, both authors describe the experience of the Vietnam War as a time of regretful decisions that negatively impacted people of both the American side and the Vietnamese side. Both authors tell a story about a character that recalls of flashbacks of the war, where they grieve over the past decisions that have affected them for the rest of their life.

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Shame is an emotion that pushes one to do things they would never have done before. Whether that is returning to fight a war, sitting on an active battlefield, committing revenge against a fellow troop member, or all of them combined, shame is able to cause one to do that and more. Even when O’Brien is faced with completely different settings and experiences, the feeling of shame causes the same reaction. He became both irrational and overanalytical, pushing his mental and physical health to deteriorate rapidly. Shame is a dangerous emotion that all are vulnerable to, yet the important part is how one responds to it.

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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

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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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How it was shaped: Tim allowed the draft of the Vietnam war and societal pressures get to the best of him and he slowly tore himself apart, he started off as a confident incorrigible man. His morals later then became corrupted, he gave into the pressures, his self proclaimed Lone Ranger status had been infected and debunked by his end decision of serving in the Vietnam war. Thesis: In the story, On the Rainy River, the author, Tim O’Brien demonstrates that an individual allows societal pressures and expectations to override their core values, morals, and beliefs; peer pressure forces individuals to put their beliefs aside so they can fit in with everyone else. The narrator, Tim O’Brien faces a similar situation when he get’s drafted for the Vietnam War.

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On the Rainy River is a story about a man, Tim O’Brien, who struggles with a life altering decision. He evaluated his own personal convictions regarding the Vietnam War at an isolated fishing lodge by the Canadian border. Three different forms of isolation are present in this story. These include physical, emotional, and societal isolation – all of which had an effect on how Tim dealt his conflicting emotions. Physical isolation played a prominent role in Tim O’Brien’s final decision to go to war.

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The short story “On the Rainy River”, by Tim O’Brien is an exploration of how guilt and the pressures of society can shape one’s decision making. O’Brien feels guilty about going to war in Vietnam which contradicts his principles and his dream of becoming a writer. In the story, O’Brien admits, “I was a coward, I went to war” (O’Brien 80); he feared how the people of his community, and the rest of society would view him if he ran away. He feared the external embarrassment he would face if he dodged his draft notice instead of serving in the war; the fear of being judged by society was too unbearable for him to face. During O’Brien’s encounter with Elroy Berdahl, he is influenced to adhere to a decision, however, he chose to conform to the expectations of society.

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In Myanmar there is an “ethnic cleansing” of the Rohingya Muslim group. The Myanmar Army is have said to slaughter at least 9,000 Rohingya Muslims. They’ve shot men, assaulted women, and thrown infants into fires to burn. Even though our world is have said to changed, evolved because we live in the twenty-first century and its 2018. We have countless means of transportation, phones that let us communicate with one another in an instant, and stores just a few minutes away filled with anything you could ever possibly need.

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