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The Things They Carried Internal Conflict Analysis

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In the book The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, the soldiers have to carry a lot of things physically and mentally. One of the biggest things the soldiers have to carry is conflict, but not just between other people, inside of themselves as well. In the book The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien the author has an internal conflict of whether to go fight in the war in Vietnam or to run away to Canada which he tells through the story “On the Rainy River.” An internal conflict is a conflict inside of a character in a story. This conflict is what the author deals and debates with the whole chapter. He talks about how he wants to go Canada to escape the draft from the Vietnam war , but at the same time he has to go to Vietnam to fight. He says “ I was drafted to fight a war I hated,” (pg. 38.) At some parts in his story going to Vietnam seems more obvious to him, but at the same time Canada is just what he wants since he absolutely does not want to fight in this war he hates. The …show more content…

In the story he explains that he wants to go to Canada because he does not want to be killed in the war and Canada is the safe place. The author mentions how he thinks it is unfair that he has to go fight in a war that he disagrees with. The other option the author faces is to go fight the war in Vietnam. He is very afraid to disappoint his family and friends because it would be obvious if he ran away and he would never be able to go back. He saw himself as a coward because he was embarrassed. 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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