Table of Contents
Why is O’Brien afraid of running away to Canada?
O’Brien considers fleeing to Canada to avoid the draft. He rants about the people in his town who didn’t really know much about Vietnam or the war but supported it regardless.
Why didn’t Tim O’Brien go to Canada?
Why didn’t Tim O’Brien try to evade the draft by going to Canada? Tim O’Brien decides to go to Vietnam because he couldn’t find the resolve not to or, in his own words, because he “was embarrassed not to.” In “On the Rainy River,” O’Brien contemplates running away to Canada after he is drafted.
What was stopping O’Brien from running to Canada?
What keeps O’Brien from running to Canada? O’Brien realizes that he needs to face the fact of war, and then he realizes by not going he is showing lack of respect towards the people and his country.
What did O’Brien fear most about fleeing from his draft notice to Canada?
Around mid-July, O’Brien begins thinking about crossing the border into Canada to avoid the draft. He weighs the morality of this decision as he fears losing respectability, being ridiculed, and being caught by authorities.
Is Obrien a coward?
He was NOT a coward, but he really didn’t know what war was like, and his thoughts of shame were stronger than his fears.
What worries O’Brien about his potential flight to Canada?
What worries O’Brien about his potential flight to Canada? He fears the war will not be won without him.
How old was O’Brien when he was drafted?
In June of 1968, a month after graduating from Macalester College, I was drafted to fight a war I hated. I was twenty-one years old.
What was in the envelope tacked to the narrator’s door?
What was in the envelope tacked to the narrator’s door? Four $50 bills. Why did the narrator call himself a coward? Since he went to war.
Why does the narrator drive toward the Canadian border?
Why does the narrator drive toward the Canadian border? He drives towards the Canadian border to escape the draft.
How long does O’Brien stay at the Tip Top Lodge?
O’Brien stays at the Tip Top Lodge for six days, and Elroy mostly remains silent.
What is wrong with Linda The Things They Carried?
He learned the power of this kind of storytelling after his first love, Linda, died from a brain tumor. Bringing Linda back to life in a story is his way of dealing with the arbitrariness and pain of her death.
What does Linda say being dead is like?
The Power of Stories Tim talks to Linda in one of his dreams, and she tells him that being dead is ‘like being inside a book that nobody’s reading. ‘ And all the dead can do is ‘wait…and hope somebody’ll pick it up and start reading. ‘.
Why is O’Brien ashamed of this story?
O’Brien is ashamed of this event in his life because he began to cry, but also because he experienced a “moral freeze.” O’Brien wants this moral quandary not to exist in the past, but to be a present question, an active engagement with the reader and what they would do.
Who does O’Brien meet when he considers dodging the draft?
He meets an old man named Elroy Berdahl. He’s like a mirror to O’Brien. He doesn’t push him or ask him what’s going on, he just gives him the space he needs to figure things out on his own. [Tip: Re-read the activities they two characters engage in during their six days together.].
What is the moral dilemma that Tim O’Brien faces in the short story on the Rainy River What were the two choices he had?
In the essay O’Brien is faced with a conflict, a moral dilemma. He had to decide whether he was either going to go to the war and fight or was he going to run away and avoid the draft. The relationship he had with Berdahl was not of friends or even regular acquaintances.
What is ironic about the last two sentences of the story in what ways was he a coward?
In the last two sentences of “On the Rainy River,” the narrator writes, “I was a coward. When the narrator of “On the Rainy River” writes, “I was a coward. I went to war,” he means that the choice that requires real bravery is the choice not to go to war, which subverts American culture’s typical way of thinking.
Who calls himself a coward in Hamlet?
Finally, Hamlet proves himself a coward when he compares himself to Fortinbras near the end of the play in act 4, scene 4.
Can a person enter a war as an act of cowardice?
Can a person enter a war as an act of cowardice? Absolutely! O’Brien (the character, not the author) was too afraid of what his parents and others would think of him if he acted on his true beliefs about the war by going to Canada to avoid the draft.
What do the soldiers hire Poppa SAN to do *?
O’Brien describes when the Alpha Company enlists an old Vietnamese man whom they call a “poppa-san” to guide the platoon through the mine fields on the Batangan Peninsula. When he is done, the troops are sad to leave their steadfast guide.
What does O’Brien say to the woman about his story?
What does O’Brien say to the woman about his story? He wishes it weren’t true. He wants her to finish it for him.
For what reasons does the narrator oppose the war?
The narrator reveals that he is opposed to the war mainly because he doesn’t understand it. It’s not that he is morally opposed to fighting in this war; rather he does not know how or why he should fight a war he doesn’t even understand. He knows nothing about what happened to the USS Maddox in Gulf of Tonkin.
How long did Tim O’Brien serve in Vietnam?
Tim O’Brien (author) Tim O’Brien Years of service 1968–1970 Rank Sergeant Unit 3rd Platoon, Company A, 5th Battalion, 46th Infantry Regiment 198th Infantry Brigade Battles/wars Vietnam War.
Did Tim O’Brien serve in Vietnam?
Award-winning author Tim O’Brien is best known for his fictional portrayals of the Vietnam conflict. From February 1969 to March 1970 he served as infantryman with the U.S. Army in Vietnam, after which he pursued graduate studies in government at Harvard University.
How did the war change Tim O Brien?
While in Vietnam, Tim O’Brien lost numerous friends and witnessed incidents too excruciatingly ugly to endure. In order to survive, regain his shredded sanity, then thrive, he wrote this book. In it, he becomes both narrator and active character, a constant observer to the things he cannot change or undo.
