Formal Essay
Tim hasn’t ever told anyone his story, but right away we knew he was ashamed to because it would expose him to be a coward. He tells a story from the summer events 1968. June 17, 1968, it’s been a month since he has graduated Macalaster College. Tim O’ Brien receives his draft notice to for the Vietnam War. He was only twenty-one. The war seems kind of mistaken to him. Its causes and effects undefined. Before his draft notice arrived, Tim had taken a stand against the war in the form of campaigning for the presidential campaign of anti-war activist Eugene McCarthy and writing college newsprint perspectives against the war. The day of receiving the notice to fight, he thought he was good to go fight in the war. His community keeps …show more content…
He then heads north and then west along the Rainy River, which separates Minnesota from Canada. The afternoon after spending the night behind a closed-down gas place, he pulls into a run-down fishing resort, the Tip Top Lodge, and meets mature man, Elroy Berdahl. He spends about two weeks or so there, and the last day goes fish catching with the elderly man Elroy. Elroy and Tim go to The Rainy River to go fishing. During the trip it suddenly hits O’Brien that they must have stopped in Canadian territory. O’Brien stares at the shoreline of Canada, twenty yards ahead of him, and wonders what to do. Elroy acts like he hasn’t seen a thing as Tim suddenly bursts into tears. O’Brien tells himself he will flee to Canada, but he determines that he will go to war because he is embarrassed not to Elroy and Tim turn the boat around, and heads back to Minnesota. The next morning, O’Brien washes morning breakfast dishes, and leaves two hundred dollars on the kitchen counter for Elroy for all the time Tim stayed there. O’Brien drives south to his home. He then goes off to
Tim hasn’t ever told anyone his story, but right away we knew he was ashamed to because it would expose him to be a coward. He tells a story from the summer events 1968. June 17, 1968, it’s been a month since he has graduated Macalaster College. Tim O’ Brien receives his draft notice to for the Vietnam War. He was only twenty-one. The war seems kind of mistaken to him. Its causes and effects undefined. Before his draft notice arrived, Tim had taken a stand against the war in the form of campaigning for the presidential campaign of anti-war activist Eugene McCarthy and writing college newsprint perspectives against the war. The day of receiving the notice to fight, he thought he was good to go fight in the war. His community keeps …show more content…
He then heads north and then west along the Rainy River, which separates Minnesota from Canada. The afternoon after spending the night behind a closed-down gas place, he pulls into a run-down fishing resort, the Tip Top Lodge, and meets mature man, Elroy Berdahl. He spends about two weeks or so there, and the last day goes fish catching with the elderly man Elroy. Elroy and Tim go to The Rainy River to go fishing. During the trip it suddenly hits O’Brien that they must have stopped in Canadian territory. O’Brien stares at the shoreline of Canada, twenty yards ahead of him, and wonders what to do. Elroy acts like he hasn’t seen a thing as Tim suddenly bursts into tears. O’Brien tells himself he will flee to Canada, but he determines that he will go to war because he is embarrassed not to Elroy and Tim turn the boat around, and heads back to Minnesota. The next morning, O’Brien washes morning breakfast dishes, and leaves two hundred dollars on the kitchen counter for Elroy for all the time Tim stayed there. O’Brien drives south to his home. He then goes off to