Jared Kolaris Debra Galler English 10-4(D-US) 01 June 2023 Courage and cowardice portrayed in The Things They Carried In Tim O'brien's venturesome and wretched novel, “The things they carried”, Tim undertakes an interesting exploration of the nature of courage and cowardice. O’Brien’s deliberate choice to dive into these qualities within the lines of war proves their significance and implies a deeper understanding of the complexities of human nature. In this novel, His exploration of the nature of courage and cowardice presents challenges of oversimplified ideas or narrow views on bravery and fear. By showing that even brave shoulders experience fear and doubt, and their actions can not simply be defined as courageous or cowardly. This …show more content…
O'Brien dives into the complexities of these qualities, by Admitting, “ I was no Soldier. I hated Boy Scouts. I hated camping out. I hated dirt and mosquitoes” (O'Brien 39). This quote shows that O'Brien initially didn't like anything that had to do with war and he was not inclined or pushed to be brave. However, as this chapter continues he faces a moral dilemma. His dilemma was to either go out and fight in a war he did not support, or to stay home at a job and life that he hates. He also had one more option: he wanted to flee to Canada to escape everything: the war, his job, and his life. He says, “ It was a moral split. I couldn't make up my mind. I feared the war, yes, but I also feared exile.”(O'Brien 42) This reveals Tim's real struggle between fear and courage, as he weighs the consequences of participating in the war or avoiding it. O'Brien also has outside parties that he felt pressured by to make a decision. for example “ I feared losing the respect of my parents”(O'Brien 42). O'Brien presents these contrasting feelings through his writing to highlight the complexity of courage and cowardice in the midst of War. By doing this he encourages his readers to reconsider their understanding of these qualities and to recognize their significance in the lives of those who experienced the realities of War. He asks readers to embrace a more nuanced understanding of these
Tim O’Brien’s struggle with his decision on the matters of his draft notice conveys an emotional turmoil that soldiers no doubt would have also have felt when seeing a similar notice. However, because of the shame that would have brought those soldiers and their families if they were to flee, they decided on what O'Brien also had decided, to fight and only having desires of fleeing away; never acting upon them. However, because he fails to do what he thought was right and follow through with his desire it causes him to believe that even though he survives the Vietnam War, "it's not a happy ending," for he "was a coward," when going into the war. He recalled this because his decision to go to war was motivated by shame, and he just saw himself as a coward who gave in to social pressures that came along with an obligation he never asked
O’Brien also shows the reality that they were just young boys who were scared, and forced by shame and their social obligations to fight the war, which contrasts from a “traditional” soldier who is seen as a brave hero. From time to time, throughout the whole book, someone would say that he is just a young boy; this is almost their way of indirectly saying that: they are scared and not as brave as they try to be, and that, they were just boys who had dreamt of living a normal life. Also, right from the beginning of the book, in the chapter “The Things They Carried”, O’Brien illustrates how they try to act with poise and dignity but fails when there were times of panic. He says that “they were afraid of dying but they were more afraid of showing
The sight of blood made me queasy, and I couldn't tolerate authority, and I didn't know a rifle from a slingshot” (O’Brien 26). O’Brien had just gotten the draft letter and is feeling mixed emotions because he believes that he is too smart for war and it must be a mistake that he got the letter. He says that he hates pretty much every aspect of war, and he knows absolutely nothing about firearms. Later on in the story, when O’Brien has experienced some of the war, he said, “War is hell, but that's not the half of it, because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and despair and longing and love. War is nasty; war is fun.
Though O'Brien fought against going to war, he decided to go, for his pride. Courage and bravery are words to describe those who fight in wars. They are courageous for the acts that they have had to commit. People are praised for their survival
Individuals often compromise their happiness to conform better within society by meeting their expectations. The main character, O’Brien, showed hesitance about experiencing societal pressure as a result of his fearful behavior about joining the army to fight in the war. This was demonstrated when O'Brien stated, "I couldn't tolerate it. I couldn't endure the mockery, or the disgrace, or the patriotic ridicule". This quote supports my argument as it illustrates the societal pressure O'Brien faces because he ran away from his "duty" of fighting alongside his nation since a man is not supposed to show cowardice and only present bravery, according to society.
He did not want to come home,” because at home it was as if he was in a different world than those around him (Hemingway 3). This is also true of O’Brien as readers see through his efforts to tell a true war story that no one could relate or even listen to him without some
(CE) Before O'Brien heard about the war, he realized the war was something he did not want to participate in. (DE) He says to himself that [he] would not swim away from [his] hometown and [his] country and [his] life. [He] would not be brave” (O’Brien 55).
In the chapter titled “On the Rainy River,” O'Brien explores the idea of fleeing the country to avoid the war, or staying to go to a war he doesn't believe in. He speaks of who he would disappoint if he were to take the easy way out and flee to Canada, and what he could lose by going to fight for his country. He becomes conflicted with the guilt that he feels for running away and the fear that he has for going to war. An example of the fear he has is when O'Brien writes, “Beyond all this, or at the very center, was the rar fact of terror. I did not want to die.
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
He fought a war in Vietnam that he knew nothing about, all he knew was that, “Certain blood was being shed for uncertain reasons” (38). He realized that he put his life on the line for a war that is surrounded in controversy and questions. Through reading The Things They Carried, it was easy to feel connected to the characters; to feel their sorrow, confusion, and pain. O’Briens ability to make his readers feel as though they are actually there in the war zones with him is a unique ability that not every author possess.
In the novel The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien expresses to the reader why the men went to the war and continued to fight it. In the first chapter, “The Things They Carried,” O’Brien states “It was not courage, exactly; the object was not valor. Rather they were too frightened to be cowards.” The soldiers went to war not because they were courageous and ready to fight, but because they felt the need to go. They were afraid and coped with their lack of courage by telling stories (to themselves or aloud) and applied humor to the situations they encountered.
Things They Carried Analysis The Things They Carried is a novel by Tim O'Brien, about a platoon of American soldiers in the Vietnam War. He's written multiple war stories in his lifetime, although The Things They Carried is by far the best. The way the man writes, is unique in nature. The chapters, “Speaking of courage”, and “Notes” are very complex in meaning.
Not only did he feel shame for not going to the war, but he also would, later on, feel guilty for going to the war and disappointed in himself for letting the guilt get to him and making him feel like he needed to go to war. “I survived, but it’s not a happy ending. I was a coward. I went to the war” (O’Brien 58). No matter what choice Tim O’Brien decided to make, at the end of the day it was hard and it would have an everlasting effect on
This is evident when Mr. O’Brien says, “I would go to the war – I would kill and maybe die – because I was embarrassed not to,” (pg. 57.) In the end the author realized what he must do and went back home, so he could fight in the Vietnam
“The conviction seemed right. And, if right, was my apparent courage in enduring merely a well-disguised cowardice?”(O’Brien 1975, 138-139). O’Brien firmly believed that the war was unjust and had uncertain reasons, but he still went and fought in Vietnam. Though some may see this as courageous, he saw it as cowardice since he was fighting a war that he believed was unjust and thus he was going against what he believed in, that he should of fled instead of fighting in Vietnam. O’Brien saw courage as how Plato and Socrates defined it, “Courage is nothing to laugh at, not if it is proper courage and exercised by men who know what they do is proper.