Conformity In On The Rainy River 'By Tim O' Brien

Everyone goes through the transition from childhood to adulthood. Boys become young men, and girls become young women; this is a significant stepping stone in the “journey to maturity.” Of course, becoming mature does not happen over night. Instead, it is a long process of learning from experience, which gives the young adult a new outlook on life and a new set of skills. The initiation theme is discussed in the article “Greasy Lake,” by critic Dennis Vanatta who argues that the author T.C. Boyle has created a narrator who is reflecting on his youth and an evening that would prove to be his stepping stone in the journey to maturity. Vanatta is correct; the narrator undergoes a rite of passage at Greasy Lake. In the beginning of the story,

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. On O’Brien’s last full day at the resort, Berdahl took him fishing

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. Receiving the draft letter takes a toll on his identity and as

Surrealism is the use of non rational imagery to give insight to the book’s characters’ subconscious thoughts. The Things They Carried specifically references surrealism in “How to Tell a True War Story” and how it is such a big factor in war stories. It is what gives them such unrealistic sounding images and scenes but as Tim O’Brien puts it, “represents the hard and exact truth as it seemed”(68). Surrealism is apparent in many if not all chapters of the story.

The Fate and Destiny of one’s life is determined by the actions that are taken and the paths which are chosen. John Winslow Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany, examines and deepens the meaning behind the Fate and Destiny of someone to shed light on what life’s true meaning is. In this story, John Wheelwright is a member of the hierarchy and wealthy of Gravesend and he finds true friendship in the most unlikely place; John meets the unsophisticated, yet assertive Owen Meany who comes from an unfortunate family. John’s mother, Tabby, interacts with Owen more so than Owen’s actual mother does and when the Angel of Death finally comes for Tabby, the deed to end her life is bestowed upon Owen because he had interrupted the Angel. This uncommon story describes how even life is not yours to fully command and God is always molding a true path that will take you to your end.

In the book The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, the soldiers have to carry a lot of things physically and mentally. One of the biggest things the soldiers have to carry is conflict, but not just between other people, inside of themselves as well. In the book The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien the author has an internal conflict of whether to go fight in the war in Vietnam or to run away to Canada which he tells through the story “On the Rainy River.”

Within Tim O’Brien’s novel, each character has a different idea as to what courage truly means. In the short story “On The Rainy River,” Tim faces the moral decision of whether or not to join the war. Being the stubborn man he is, Tim believes he is too good for the war, all the while opposing war in his liberal nature. He faces a dilemma in which he can either flee to Canada and evade the war, or accept his draft notice and go to war. This is illustrated as Tim states “Right then,

In the United States today, the name Benedict Arnold is a known synonym for “traitor.” During most of the war, he impressed both the British and the Americans with his skills and strengths. He was once a Patriot, but he is now known as one of the most cowardly traitors of America. He won many significant battles for the Americans, but that does not mean that he is a hero. He turned to the British for his own selfish reasons and his actions were unfair to the American people.

The Beat Generation of the 1950’s and early 1960’s encouraged a new lifestyle for young Americans striving for individualism and freedom, which included rock and roll music, long hair, relaxed style attire, vegetarianism, and experimenting with drugs (“Beat Movement”). Many young Americans of this era wanted to experiment with new social and cultural concepts, rebelling against “normal” American life. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, written by Ken Kesey, portrays the gruesomeness of conformity through the lives of patients in one of the asylum’s wards. The novel shows how the patients are confined to strict rules and limited freedom because of Nurse Ratched’s power. The Beat Generation wanted change because of this conformity, by rebelling against the rules and structure of society. In the text, Kesey implies that conformity is damaging because he believed that conformity and mental institutions negatively impact the patients by destroying their self-esteem, while many in the ‘50s and early ‘60s believed mental institutions helped someone become a normal member of society.

In The Giver, Lois Lowry shows her readers what it is like to live in a society with no diversity, no color, and no freedom. In this society, there is a twelve-year old boy, named Jonas, who finds the truth about life outside of his community. He does not have the option of choice, and he is stuck in a futuristic world of “sameness”. Jonas’ world is dull, and he wants to change it because it does not have the amazing features and opportunities that he learns about. In this story, Lois Lowry is warning her readers that too much conformity can lead to no freedom and no true happiness.

As humans, our lives are revolved around the line that separates conformity and individuality. Conformity is a type of social influence that includes a change of belief or behavior to fit into a group. Many people can cross the line too far back or too far forward, thus being too much of a conformist or too much of an individual.Conformity is essential to life. Humans live in a society that functions as a whole. If there is a mistake, the entire system may fail. So, we are obligated conform to social norms and laws to stay together as a whole. There’s several types of conformity; Normative conformity,which is to give into group pressure because a person wants to fit in with the

In the short story, “On the Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien, the author develops the idea that when an individual experiences a feeling of shame and humiliation, they often tend to neglect their desires and convictions to impress society. Tim, the narrator, starts off by describing his feeling of embarrassment, “I’ve had to live with it, feeling the shame”, before even elaborating on the cause of the feeling. Near the end of the story, he admits he does not run off and escape to Canada because it had nothing to do with his, “mortality...Embarrassment, that’s all it was”. The narrator experiences this feeling of intense shame and then he decides that he will be “a coward” and go to war. His personal desire is that he wishes to live a normal life and could never imagine himself charging at an enemy position nor ever taking aim at another human being. However, due to societal

How does a person’s response to and perspective of a crisis define him or her?

“Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to.” Curt Lemon, Norman Bowker and Tim O’Brien have their own stories about how they were cowards and courageous during the war. These three men knew if they did not do what they did, they would have been cowards. It would have made them feel embarrassed.

1) Those with power attempt to silence individuals similar to Roark. "And you'll set out from your house with this drawing, to have it erected, because you won't have any doubt that it will be erected by the first man to see it. But you won't get very far from your house. Because you'll be stopped at the door ... he'll say that he's very sorry, only the commission has just been given to Guy Francon." (65) Shortly after just cracking open "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand I was able to see Roark as a bold non-conformist who believes in the purity of his work over a check. Even after being threatened with a seemingly inevitable future, Roark gladly accepts. This "Pure" label doesn't stick with him, though. As the novel continues I start to view Roark as somewhat a self-centered dick. "Roark got up and walked to the bench, the brown envelope in hand. He took out of the envelope ten