Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is about being a soldier in the Vietnam War, which at the time was supported by the government and protested by the citizens. Many young men who received draft notices attempted to avoid being sent to the battlefield by burning their draft cards or illegally crossing the U.S.-Canadian border. The narrator of The Things They Carried attempted the latter in the chapter “On The Rainy River”, but ended up not going through with it. But what made him change his mind?
The scene where the narrator makes his choice takes place on a rainy river between the state of Minnesota and Canada. An old man named Elroy Berdahl, who had let the boy stay at his lodge, took him out on a fishing trip that day. At first,
The scene where the narrator makes his choice takes place on a rainy river between the state of Minnesota and Canada. An old man named Elroy Berdahl, who had let the boy stay at his lodge, took him out on a fishing trip that day. At first,