War is a horrifying thing for anyone to be connected with or involved in. In war, lots of people die in dreadful ways, but what matters is that some people are willing to risk their lives for others in times of war. Entering a war is not an act of cowardice because it physically and mentally shows that you’re prepared to fight and die for your country. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien shows the protagonist, Tim, getting drafted into the Vietnam war and facing a Catch-22 situation: escaping to Canada or joining the war. The war does not necessarily mean that what the soldiers are fighting for is right, but to not fight for what is necessary is itself cowardice.
How I define courage is the ability to face the fear of danger, pain, and agony. The brave soldiers in war usually face the fear of death, the agony of someone they know being murdered, and the pain of the soldier himself getting injured. This is the reason why I disagree that entering the war is not an act of cowardice because war itself involves courageous soldiers to fight in a war.
On the contrary, the protagonist, Tim, feels that he joined the war out of cowardice. He stated: “I was a coward. I went to the war” (58). He believes that the Vietnam war is unjust. By not joining the war and going into Canada, he does what he believes to be the right thing: to not join an unjust war and unnecessarily kill people. However, he cannot avoid the same from the people in his life because he didn’t join the war. He decided to join the war because he was unable to have the courage of doing what he thinks it’s right.
Tim is getting drafted into the Vietnam war and faces a Catch-22 situation. If he joins the war would make him guilty for being involved in the war, but if he did not join the war, he will get scolded by his community, which will also make him feel guilty. “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. Traitor! they yelled. Turncoat! Pussy! I felt myself blush.” (57) Tim chose to join the war out of cowardice, not out of courage.
To sum up, my opinion differs from the protagonist’s opinion. In my opinion, it takes courage to fight in a war, to face fear, danger, pain, and agony. However, Tim believes that he joined the war out of cowardice because he can’t stand being scolded by his community and unnecessarily killing people. Entering war is not an act of cowardice. I strongly hold this belief. However, I understand the protagonist’s opinion and how some people define cowardice is different than my opinion. However, most of us can agree that war is a horrifying thing for anyone to be connected with or involved in.
