Heroes are everywhere, and no one ever knows when they will show up in life. In the story “On the Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien, the story describes a certain time in someone’s life that they didn’t know what to do. TIm O’Brien is the character and is very confused with what he wants to do. He was called to the war, something called the draft wanted to bring him into the war, basically volunteer him. O’Brien then decides to leave his job and head north to Canada. O’Brien stops at a seemed to be an abandoned campground, it's not abandoned. To the sound of his vehicle a man opens the door from the main building. A man with a face O’Brien will never forget. This man helps O’Brien overcome his fear of death and also leaving his family by never bringing up the subject of the matter, but also by giving him a chance to leave, leave the United States to flee the war. The man who …show more content…
Elroy and O’Brien leave on a short fishing trip to go out on the Rainy River, well doing so Elroy pulls only twenty yards off of the Canadian shore. “Twenty yards. I could’ve done it. I could’ve jumped and started swimming for my life” (412-413). O’Brien is describing how he could’ve just fled the country forever, but the thought of his family and everyone else kept him back. After O’Brien tried to jump in he couldn’t he tried, the old man still remained quiet, knowing what was going on. “Elroy Berdahl remained quiet. He kept fishing. He worked his line with the tips of his fingers, patiently, squinting out at his red and white bobber on the Rainy River” (501-502). Elroy, still with his patience, knew what O’Brien wanted to do. He gave him the life choice, stay here and fight or go to Canada and flee. Making O’Brien make the decisions to stay. Stay for his family, for not being called a traitor or any of the embarrassment. He simply stayed and fought in the Vietnam
I chose to do On the Rainy River because it describes O'Brien's mentality on the war and getting drafted to a war he doesn’t believe in. In the chapter On the Rainy River, it talks about the shame of the war and how the war is starting to take a toll on him and his men. O’Brien feels like his life is going out of control. On the Rainy River Like I mentioned in the introduction the war caused O’Brien and other soldiers psychological trauma. One quote that stood out to me was when Jimmy Cross was taking about losing his best friend Ted Lavender” I was too good for this war.
During his decision making process of whether to go to war or not, O’Brien meets the character of Elroy Berdahl, who makes numerous attempts to help O’Brien get across to Canada. However, O’Brien constantly refuses his guidance and insists that he can make a decision for himself. Although “the man knew” (54) that he was a draft dodger and insisted on helping O’Brien, giving him “an envelope tacked to [his] door … with four fifties and a two-word note that said emergency fund” (54), O’Brien was hesitant to accept his donations. This bibliomancy, a sentence that makes reference to the Bible, displays Elroy as a god-like figure who is ready to help O’Brien and guide him to the right path. Although what he needs for the future he wants in his hands
In “The Most Dangerous Game” written by Richard Connell. Rainsford was a hunter that fell off a yacht in the Caribbean sea, and swam to an island named Ship-trap, Sanger Rainsford had to figure out how to outsmart Zaroff. The Author states three topics from the hunt starting by climbing up a tree, then seating a trap and hurting Zaroff, Lastly jumping off the cliff and swimming to General Zaroff’s home. Rainsford demonstrated how he is a quick thinker written several times throughout the story.
The Journey that Changes Andy In James Heneghan’s novel, Flood, Andy goes on a journey where he develops into a new person. He develops into a greater person when he learns to be appreciative, to not judge others too quickly, and to be brave. Andy’s journey helps him to develop into a greater person, therefore his life improves everyday as he makes better choices.
On November 1, 1955, the Vietnam war began. The war was between North Vietnam and South Vietnam along with the United States to stop the spread of communism. Tim O’Brien walked alongside the South China Sea during his time in Vietnam. He and his soldiers called it Pinkville because of the color it was on the map which represented a misleading area. O’Brien published his novel The Things They Carried on war stories to show how storytelling can be believable although his novel is fiction.
Courage The dictionary definition of courage is “strength in the face of pain of grief.” Throughout the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, the common idea of courage is expressed with different meanings as each character interprets courage differently.
O’Brien tells the readers about him reflecting back twenty years ago, he wonders if running away from the war were just events that happened in another dimension, he pictures himself writing a letter to his parents: “I’m finishing up a letter to my Parents that tells what I'm about to do and why I'm doing it and how sorry I am that I’d never found the courage to talk to them about it”(O’Brien 80). Even twenty years after his running from the war, O’Brien still feels sorry for not finding the courage to tell his parents about his decision of escaping to Canada to start a new life. O’Brien presented his outlook that even if someone was not directly involved in the war, this event had impacted them indirectly, for instance, how a person’s reaction to the war can create regret for important friends and
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.
In Richard Connell’s The Most Dangerous Game, the protagonist, Rainsford, experiences drastic character changes when a storm throws him overboard and he swims to what he thinks is safety on Ship-Trap Island. Rainsford, a big-game hunter, becomes stranded there with the insane General Zaroff who is obsessed with hunting. The general immediately recognizes and admires Rainsford as the author of books about hunting. The general welcomes Rainsford into his home, a grand chateau, and treats him with care and respect, but when he starts to talk about hunting, Rainsford realizes something is off. The general brags about how he stocks the island for big-game hunting, claiming that he hunts the most dangerous game--a new animal.
A review of Thunder On the River The Civil War in Northeast Florida by Daniel L. Schafer Growing up in the northern state of Illinois, a student was always taught in school that the Civil War was about slavery and president Abraham Lincoln. Reading this book gives the reader a point of view that is not normally explained in northern states. Daniel L. Schafer the Author of the Book Thunder on the river, explains in great detail with firsthand accounts of how the Civil War started, who was involved and what happened, before during and after the war. In the Preface of the book, Schafer explains how he was able to write the book; he was asked to edit the draft of Richard A. Martin 's two volume history of Jacksonville more than twenty five years
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.
“The Most Dangerous Game,” by Richard Connell, is a narrative about Mr. Sanger Rainsford, a celebrated hunter, who finds himself on a secluded island after falling overboard a yacht. Rainsford locates a large building on the island and meets General Zaroff, who invites him to rest and replenish his health in his home. After Zaroff explains that he also enjoys hunting, he also reveals that he has discovered a new, more dangerous animal to hunt: humans. Zaroff forces Rainsford to become the hunted in order to win his freedom and return to the mainland. Connell’s central idea suggests that instinct does not always yield to reason.
A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean is mainly about himself and his younger brother Paul, along with Reverend Maclean as a father. Norman Maclean, the older son, was a successful young male in his studies, unlike his brother Paul Maclean, who had his life as a harder time maintaining his fishing priorities. This remained his downfall for this reason behind the summer of his violent death from being beaten up. Their father, Reverend Maclean, stood behind the boys throughout the aggregate of the story in spite of their mistakes, as well as wrongdoings. By characterizing the Maclean men’s fly fishing, including the summer of the innocence of Paul’s death, where Norman seeks to realize this tragedy, to compensate praise to him, and represent the appreciation for his father’s love and insight.
O’Brien describes his experience at the Tip Top Lodge as one that resolved an immense inner conflict he faced. When O’Brien received his draft card in the mail to fight in Vietnam, he immediately had to face the fact that he had been “drafted to fight a war that [he] hated” (O’Brien 38). In the face of danger and what he deemed as “moral confusion,” O’Brien suddenly decided that fleeing to Canada was the only way to avoid fighting in Vietnam. While driving north, O’Brien stopped at a fishing resort called the Tip Top Lodge and met Elroy Berdahl. While he refrained from asking obvious questions during O’Brien’s six-day-stay, Berdahl presumably understood O’Brien’s situation.
In the short story “On the Rainy River”, Tim O’Brien has an idea of fleeing to Canada and avoiding the war. However, he simply chooses to go against his beliefs and go to war. This action reveals him as a week-minded and self-conscious person. Because of this minute act, O’Brien lives the rest of his life in utter embarrassment and sadness (“I survived, but it's not a happy ending.