In Tim O’Brien’s chapter of The Things They Carried, titled “On the Rainy River,” Tim changes his mind about serving in the Vietnam War. At the start of the chapter O’Brien strongly states that he has no wish, nor wants to serve, but by the end of the chapter Tim decides to go anyway. I disagree with Tim O’Brien’s choice to serve in the war, because it is a rash decision. He has no desire to fight in Vietnam; however he feels that he will bring shame and dishonor to his family and town if he does not enter the draft. As O’Brien begins to explain his situation concerning the draft and his unwillingness to go to war, he describes his life in such a manner that seems to have no hope, “I felt paralyzed. All around me the options seemed to be narrowing, as if I were hurtling down a huge black funnel, the whole world squeezing in tight …show more content…
I hated Boy Scouts. I hated camping out. I hated dirt and tenets and mosquitos” (39). Tim gives emphasizes more reasons to support his displeasure of serving in Vietnam when he mentions hating camping outdoors along with everything that comes with it, the dirt, bugs and sleeping in tents, displaying that when he makes the decision to go to war, he is not happy with the arrangements of being a solider and the life that comes accompanies it. When he is close to making his final decision to become a solider, O’Brien contemplates the reaction of his town and family, if he denies his draft acceptance, “It was as if there were an audience to my life, that swirl of faces along the river, and in my head I could hear people screaming at me” (57). All of the people being disappointed in him supports his guilt for running from the draft, and makes him reconsider. Tim decides that he cannot let dishonor fall upon his family name, or his town and all the people who live there because of his own life goals and