“On the Rainy River”
How could you chose between leaving everything behind or fighting for a cause that you don’t believe in? This is a choice that many people had to make. In this chapter O’Brien is puzzled. He has to chose between fleeing to Canada and starting his life over, or going to the war which he doesn’t believe in.
This is such a hard choice for the soldiers because they might not want to fight in the war due to all of the side affects however, they also don’t want to start their life all over by fleeing to Canada. If they end up fleeing they are going to have to live their life with “Shame” and if they end up fighting they will be considered to have “Courage”. This is a dumb social status type of thing that still happens today. If people want to fight in a war that should be their choice, they should not have to be drafted and they should not be shamed for it.
O’Brien describes courage as “Comes to us in finite quantities, like an inheritance, and by being frugal and stashing it away and letting it earn interest, we steadily increase our moral capital in preparation for that day when the account must be drawn down.”People in the war have courage because they are risking their lives for their country and their people and that shows true courage because you are constantly fighting and witnessing death and that takes a lot of courage to be there and risk your own life for someone else. Tim O’Brien and the relationships that he has with the other army men have grown closer. This is true because when they saw lavender die they grew closer together but also grew fear because of not knowing what is held for them in the future. They realized that courage was an important aspect because without it the people wouldn’t be able to survive in war because they are constantly seeing death and violence.
Of course I am grateful for all soldiers that have fought for the freedom of our country. But if you don’t fight in a war are you considered a coward? Are you supposed to live your life in shame? This was a huge controversy during this time period. The society then put labels on people who did not go to the war. Today this is not as big of a deal because there is no draft for the war.
I would say that there is no shame whenever you would have courage and I agree that many people would judge on the actions they committed and not see the emotion the soldiers have.
I totally agree with you point on how it is a dumb social status and a young man should not have to go through any of this. I really like how you brought up the point of how any soldier is brave if they fight in the war, because it is true it take one thing to say you might join the war. but it truly takes another level of love, care, and bravery to actually enlist in the war. Your closing was very interesting to think about especially with all the questions that you provided. I did like how you left off with the fact that in our day and age we don’t have to feel the way these young men did because we have the luxury of no drafts.
Hey Finn. I think that your blog post is very interesting and you make lots of good points. I do not think that there is shame in having courage but I do understand and accept some of the points that you had.