The Fear of Decision Making In the short story, On The Rainy River by Tim O'Brien, he writes about what he did after he got his draft notice and his fear of going to the war and getting killed. He ran to the Canadian border to run away from this duty but in the end could not run away because of his cowardliness. Fear is the feeling of being afraid of something or to avoid or put off doing something because one is afraid. Everyone is afraid of different things such as spiders or the dark or monsters under the bed but everyone is afraid of making the wrong decisions. The outcome of this short story is different from Moses's view of war in the Bible. When he was speaking to his army he told them, “do not panic or be terrified by them. For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory” …show more content…
He froze, “couldn't decide, I couldn't act”(81) O'Brien was too afraid to jump, his fear held him back. The pride he had at the beginning when he felt as though he was too good to go to war had now dwindled to nothing as he, “sat in the bow of the boat and cried.” (83) Adults often seek help when making decisions because when people are making decisions that could impact their life, input from others is helpful. Everyone is faced with decisions in life and fear of making the wrong decisions has a negative impact on the end result. Bain said in his article about fear in decision making that, “people are often so frozen by fear from making a wrong decision that they don't make a decision at all and life passes them by.” (Bain, 1) This statement describes what happened in O'Brien's situation as well. Instead of making the decision to jump off the boat and swim to Canada, he was so afraid of what others would think that he went back home and that decision changed the course of his entire
The daunting face of fear is a situation in which both characters from Markus Zusak 's I am the Messanger and Nick Cutter 's the Troop are thrown into. Even though both books are opposites of each other, one dealing with a bio weapon and the other dealing with finding one 's true potential, in both books characters find their own ways to either face or crumble against their fears. Fears cause changes in courage, compassion and spirituality in
Not experiencing war is a luxury many people unfortunately do not get; however, Ishmael Beah, the author of A Long Way Gone, lives and survives the war, though not without heartache. With war there is always fear, death, and hell. Ishmael Beah proves war is hell through the killing of civilians, the distrust, and the after effects of the war. Ishmael proves war is hell through the killing of civilians. Many innocent bystanders of the war are forced out of their homes, made to run for their lives.
No matter how ordinary a human being could be, no one has lived their entire life in someone’s shoe. Everyone stumbles upon different decisions in life, causing different but unique life experiences. However, one’s life can only be changed with one’s decision. Life is about making decisions, whether it’s right or wrong, it all comes from the decision maker.
Courage The dictionary definition of courage is “strength in the face of pain of grief.” Throughout the novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, the common idea of courage is expressed with different meanings as each character interprets courage differently.
Reader Response of “On the Rainy River” The short story “On the Rainy River” by Tim O 'Brien explains to the audience that all men are influenced to go into war, and that they should hide the fears and emotions that they may have along the journey. Throughout the short story the author explains his journey and opens up about his emotions when he was sent to war. Being the audience of this short story explains to you what every man must go through if they were to be sent to war.
As I said before fear is a horrible feeling and most would do anything to avoid or get rid of the emotion. Let’s say you were faced with a situation where you were accused of doing something and the penalty was death. The only way to get out of the gruesome penalty
‘’I was a coward. I went to the war’’ Pg187. In the short story, ‘’On The Rainy River’’ by Tim O’Brien, The protagonist faces a difficult life decision, he did not want to conform to society the way others wanted him to. He wanted to keep his personal beliefs. Tim O’Brien does not want to conform no matter how vital it is that he should.
In the world that we live in today, there are many things that we face daily. Whether it be illness, love or just bad decisions, everybody encounters them and many more. Rash decisions are made on a very common basis among people. A lot of stuff affect the decisions you make. May it be, being too young and not having enough experience to make good decisions, or just the lack of care of the outcome.
The short story “On the Rainy River”, by Tim O’Brien is an exploration of how guilt and the pressures of society can shape one’s decision making. O’Brien feels guilty about going to war in Vietnam which contradicts his principles and his dream of becoming a writer. In the story, O’Brien admits, “I was a coward, I went to war” (O’Brien 80); he feared how the people of his community, and the rest of society would view him if he ran away. He feared the external embarrassment he would face if he dodged his draft notice instead of serving in the war; the fear of being judged by society was too unbearable for him to face. During O’Brien’s encounter with Elroy Berdahl, he is influenced to adhere to a decision, however, he chose to conform to the expectations of society.
The novel The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien uses many effective rhetorical strategies throughout. In the chapter On the Rainy River, Tim O’Brien tells the audience a story he has never told anybody. Not even his parents, siblings or wife. He narrates the events and emotions that he experienced after receiving a war draft notice during the summer of 1968. O’Brien is ashamed about how he dealt with the notice and he feels as though he is “too good” to go to war.
In the end, he overcomes the fear, challenges, and tasks to reveal his treasure. The definition of fear is an emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain or a threat. Santiago was fearful of fear when he was crossing the desert, not knowing if their caravan was going to get stuck in the middle of a battle or if they were
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.
Fear is not real. It is the product of thoughts you create. Danger is very real, but fear is a choice. In the short story “The Most Dangerous Game” the main character Rainsford is being hunted which creates fear in him. He is scared of dying but overcame his fear by facing the danger of the hunting game.
How does a person’s response to and perspective of a crisis define him or her? In the event of a crisis, a person’s response and perspective of it can define him or her. In the novel, The Book Thief, written by Markus Zusak, and the short story, “On the Rainy River”, written by Tim O’Brien, the characters experience crisis all around them. Hans Hubermann in The Book Thief and Tim O’Brien in “On the Rainy River” have a hard time staying true to themselves in moments of crisis.
Humans were born with two fears; fear of falling, and fear of loud noises. According to the Oxford dictionary, fear is "an unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm", but this definition is only one of many to define the term of 'fear '. Fear is events that we perceive to be dangerous to ourselves and to others. Fear is something that everyone possesses, and when conquered, turns into achievement. Before we discuss what defines fear, a clear line must be drawn between fear and anxiety.