“You can’t fix your mistakes.” (O’Brien 39). Mistakes are a common component in life, their purposes is to cause embarrassment and have people learn from it. There are different reasons as to why one makes a mistake, and whether they chose to learn from it. Mistakes can be large and they can be small. In O’Brien’s case, his mistakes are catastrophic to himself. Not only because his mistakes could cost him his life and will cause him to endanger the lives of others. He makes mistakes that put his mental state in a great deal of shame, and has him regretting his mistake for many years. A mistake in which he calls himself a coward for making it. The most regrettable part of his mistake being that it is such an immense mistake, which could have
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This factor is the impressions and judgement from others that will affect him, if he decides to flee. These factors are the opinions and judgements of others that will affect him if he decides to run. He will receive a constant onslaught by opinions from his friends, his hometown and maybe even his family. In which he is essential throwing away his whole life and his past. As for judgement, “… the law closing in on all sides – my hometown and the FBI and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.” (O’Brien 50). If he were to be caught, he would surely have the verdict of jail time. Which could result in ruining his life even more. He deems that all of this is too much a risk to himself to escape the draft. He supposes that this embarrassment and trouble will be less of that if he chooses to cross the border. As when he was a few feet from the border, instead of escaping that very moment he chose rather to start crying, showing that even the thought of the shame is too heavy on him. O’Brien then questions his readers, “What would you do?” (O’Brien 54). He puts his feelings towards the subject of the shame into the minds of his readers. This lets the audience have their own perspective on the matter and on the factors that forges O’Brien’s decisions. Which would help the reader understand his reason for going to the war, and assume that he should not have been so judgemental towards his actions. However, it is more so proven that O’Brien is right to be harsh on
This factor is the impressions and judgement from others that will affect him, if he decides to flee. These factors are the opinions and judgements of others that will affect him if he decides to run. He will receive a constant onslaught by opinions from his friends, his hometown and maybe even his family. In which he is essential throwing away his whole life and his past. As for judgement, “… the law closing in on all sides – my hometown and the FBI and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.” (O’Brien 50). If he were to be caught, he would surely have the verdict of jail time. Which could result in ruining his life even more. He deems that all of this is too much a risk to himself to escape the draft. He supposes that this embarrassment and trouble will be less of that if he chooses to cross the border. As when he was a few feet from the border, instead of escaping that very moment he chose rather to start crying, showing that even the thought of the shame is too heavy on him. O’Brien then questions his readers, “What would you do?” (O’Brien 54). He puts his feelings towards the subject of the shame into the minds of his readers. This lets the audience have their own perspective on the matter and on the factors that forges O’Brien’s decisions. Which would help the reader understand his reason for going to the war, and assume that he should not have been so judgemental towards his actions. However, it is more so proven that O’Brien is right to be harsh on