Often in life, people are forced into making decision on how they want to live their lives. These individuals struggle to decide whether to follow the masses and do what they are told and what is expected of them or to break free and choose to make their own path. This internal conflict is further developed in Tim O’Brien’s short story, “On the Rainy River.” O’Brien uses the protagonist of the story, Tim, a fictional version of himself to illustrate the dilemma faced by those who are forced to make this choice. Sometimes, when individuals are forced with a difficult decision, the best option they have is to try and make their choice based on their own desires and not the desires of others.
When individuals submit to societies expectations …show more content…
Tim simply want to stay neutral and continue living his life the way it is but ultimately succumbs to the pressure and expectations of others and heads off to war. O’Brien uses the imagery or Tim’s job prior to the war to illustrate the type of person Tim so desperately does not want to become. Tim’s job is to clean the decapitated hogs of blood using a water gun. The author uses this to parallel the ruthless and systematic killing of humans in the war that Tim is so opposed to and foreshadows that, just like in his job, he will eventually stop questioning why he must kill and simply follow orders and conform to do what he is told. O’Brien makes that point that Tim already has blood on his hands and that his …show more content…
They chain themselves to society and throw away the key. As a result they are never satisfied with their lives as they are not able to make decisions for themselves and are instead instructed on how to live every step of their lives. Tim lets his emotions and anxiety guilt him into fighting during the war. O’Brien illustrates Tim’s mental struggle by physically isolating him and trapping him alone in his own mind with no one to tell him what to do. Tim stays at the “Tip Top Lodge” which is alongside the Rainy River, the border between Minnesota and Canada. Not only is this river a physical barrier but O’Brien uses it to represent a mental line that Tim needs to decide whether or not to cross. The river represents the line between life and death. To the south is war and everything Tim is running from and to the north is freedom and a chance at a new life. Tim is alone with no one to tell him what to do. His only companion Elroy Berdahl remains neutral and refuses to comment on his situation and instead acts as a parental figure, watching, waiting and ready to support him no matter his decision, so long as it is his own. His decision not to act helps Tim reach a decision knowing that it is his own. “He [Elroy] was like a witness, like God, or like the gods, who look on in absolute silence as we live our lives, as we make our choices or fail to make them” (O’Brien 83). Elroy is exactly what Tim needs as he does
When individuals submit to societies expectations …show more content…
Tim simply want to stay neutral and continue living his life the way it is but ultimately succumbs to the pressure and expectations of others and heads off to war. O’Brien uses the imagery or Tim’s job prior to the war to illustrate the type of person Tim so desperately does not want to become. Tim’s job is to clean the decapitated hogs of blood using a water gun. The author uses this to parallel the ruthless and systematic killing of humans in the war that Tim is so opposed to and foreshadows that, just like in his job, he will eventually stop questioning why he must kill and simply follow orders and conform to do what he is told. O’Brien makes that point that Tim already has blood on his hands and that his …show more content…
They chain themselves to society and throw away the key. As a result they are never satisfied with their lives as they are not able to make decisions for themselves and are instead instructed on how to live every step of their lives. Tim lets his emotions and anxiety guilt him into fighting during the war. O’Brien illustrates Tim’s mental struggle by physically isolating him and trapping him alone in his own mind with no one to tell him what to do. Tim stays at the “Tip Top Lodge” which is alongside the Rainy River, the border between Minnesota and Canada. Not only is this river a physical barrier but O’Brien uses it to represent a mental line that Tim needs to decide whether or not to cross. The river represents the line between life and death. To the south is war and everything Tim is running from and to the north is freedom and a chance at a new life. Tim is alone with no one to tell him what to do. His only companion Elroy Berdahl remains neutral and refuses to comment on his situation and instead acts as a parental figure, watching, waiting and ready to support him no matter his decision, so long as it is his own. His decision not to act helps Tim reach a decision knowing that it is his own. “He [Elroy] was like a witness, like God, or like the gods, who look on in absolute silence as we live our lives, as we make our choices or fail to make them” (O’Brien 83). Elroy is exactly what Tim needs as he does