The struggle between one’s desires and expectations leads an individual to falter from their values and beliefs resulting in dire consequences to one’s morality and internal self. The short story "On a Rainy River" clearly demonstrates the conflict between the two dilemmas as the main character‚ Tim O’Brien‚ is faced with a decision to fight a pointless war or desert his country‚ choosing between potentially dying‚ or being branded as a coward. "Traitor! they yelled. Turncoat! Pussy! I felt myself
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Men were drafted into war without a choice and some had even chosen to move in order to avoid this draft. One man who attempted to leave was the author‚ Tim O’Brien‚ once he saw his draft letter he soon became paranoid and thought of ways to leave the United states‚ “I was too good for this war. Too smart‚ too compassionate‚ too everything. It couldn’t happen… I was no soldier. I hated Boy Scouts. I hated camping out. I hated dirt and tents and mosquitoes. The sight of blood made me queasy.” (O’Brien
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almost abandoned pagoda as a rest stop. Monks inhabiting the church welcomed them inside for shade. They spent seven to eight days in the pagoda‚ building a fortress and using it as a base of operations. The pagoda is a symbol for peace and tranquility. Tim O’Brien shows that even in the war‚ there are some peace and calmness. As chaotic and hectic as the war gets‚ there are times of tranquility. The church is sacred. A church symbolizes purity and religion. “You don’t mess with churches.” (113) Messing
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Many people‚ in some point in their lives will experience a death of a loved one and will try to cope with it as best as they can. In “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien‚ O’Brien talks about his war stories and how he and the soldiers handled the deaths of the soldiers while at war. The soldiers had to deal with the stress‚ sadness‚ and guilt when seeing their partner get killed. O’Brien talks about the different coping mechanisms the soldiers use when facing the death of a fellow comadre. The
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acts upon her morals‚ even though they oppose the law. However‚ in the story “On the Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien‚ Tim is not so persistent with his loyalty to his morals. Although he is very against the war he has been drafted into‚ in the end he ends up going to battle due to his fear of letting his family and country down. While both Tim and Antigone struggle with a moral decision‚ Antigone is more genuine than Tim about her commitment to her beliefs and as a result ended up having a greater impact
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In the book “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien all of the people carry something. Some of the things they carry are things they need to survive. Most of them carry things that remind them of home or things they left behind. Every single person carries one thing in common‚ “they all carry respect for the power of the things they carry.” The men carry things they need like mosquito repellent and marijuana‚ pocket knives and chewing gum. They carried friendship and hate. An example of
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In the story “The Man Killed” By Tim O’Brien‚ the narrator stares in silence at the man he has just murdered. He imagines all sorts of things and describes every part of him‚ from the blood running out of his wounds to his dainty long fingers. He‚ then starts telling us about his life and visualizes his past‚ present and future. The narrator envisions this man of My Khe as a scholar‚ not a fighter; he believes he is someone who went to war only to fulfill his patriotic duty. During this whole
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In ‘‘The Magic Show‚’’ by Tim O’Brien he breaks down a comparison of writing to magic. Early on in O’Brien’s life he discovered that he liked performing magic he felt as if he was making miracles happen. When performing magic the outcome is based on an illusion creating a misleading appearance‚ forming something into a newly impression of reality. In magic the audience should always be wondering how the trick will end and how the magician performed the trick just as with writing an essay you lead
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Written task 2 Tim O’Brien The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien is quite a different novel from most and stands out from the variety of other books concerning the Vietnam war. Unlike most books which are classified as fiction or nonfiction The Things They Carried is surreal and fits neither category. O’Brien uses the Vietnam war as his baseline for his story The Things They Carried but he exaggerates and throws bits and pieces of fiction in there to make the story more enticing. It makes you wonder
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The book The Things They Carried‚ written by Tim O’Brien is about the account of himself and his fellow soldiers who served with him at the Vietnam war. The book starts with O’Brien describing everyone around him and just like the title reads listing out everything they carried‚ standard military issued equipment and few small personal belongings they got from the people close to them. Later in the story he talks about the life they have after the war and how the war affected everyone differently
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