A Fool's Drug Analysis
Imagination: A Fool's Drug
By: Joshua V.
The idea that your imagination is a key determining factor in accepting your uncertain future is supported but also refuted in the short story On the Rainy River. The main character, Tim O'brien provides strong evidence for the strength of one's imagination through the visual representation he provides of the slaughterhouse where he works and the way he imagines disappointment and disgust those back in his home would feel. However, at the end of the story it becomes clear that regardless of one's imagination or will, the future is set in stone and the path you walk is already set in stone.
The concept that your imagination is what leads you to reject your uncertain future, during times of overall …show more content…
unsatisfactory circumstances, is evident when O'brien emphasizes how the meat packing plant he works at is a “disassembly line” and is “like standing for eight hours a day under a lukewarm blood-shower”(2). This visual imagery displays to us how gore filled and grotesque his work life is. He uses his experiences in the plant to foreshadow what he anticipates his life in the war will be similar to. The use of the words disassembly line in contrast to the assembly line nature of the plant also serve to provide insight into the state of mind that O'brien is feeling. Earlier in the story we learn that “[he] was drafted to fight a war he hated” because “[he] saw no unity of purpose, no consensus on matters of philosophy or history of law. The very facts were shrouded in uncertainty: Was it a civil war? A war of …”(1). O’brien’s imagination causes him to drift in a direction that results in him ultimately leaving the plant, and attempting to escape to Canada.
Both your past and your imagination help to coerce you into accepting rejecting your uncertain, and sometimes undesirable future. This is clearly supported when before O'brien leaves his work at the slaughterhouse, he begins to realize that “[he] feared the war, yes, but [he] also feared exile”(3) O'brien begins to imagine how the people back in his home town will feel about his decision to flee to Canada. He finds that “it [is] easy to imagine people sitting around a table down at the old Gobbler Cafe on Main Street, coffee cups poised, the conversation slowly zeroing in on [him], how the damned sissy had taken off for Canada”(3) instead of feeling regret and ashamed for his actions, O’brien is instead “bitter, sure. … The emotions went from outrage to terror to bewilderment to guilt to sorrow and then back again to outrage. [He] felt a sickness inside [him]. Real Disease(3). This flare of emotions ultimately leads him to crack and abandon his job. When O'brien imagines how his future life will unfold if he doesn't accept his future, he begins enraged and chooses to deny it partly due to spite for those who would chain him down.
The notion that your imagination leads you to make a decision about your uncertain future, is supported once again when Tim is on the verge of crossing over to Canada.
Tim experiences “A moral freeze: [he] couldn't decide, couldn't act, [he] couldn't comport [himself] with even a pretense of modest human dignity. All [he] could do was cry”. At this point his imagination takes over when he visualizes “[his] parents calling to him from the far shoreline. … All [his] aunts and uncles were there, and Abraham Lincoln, and Saint George…”(). His imagination provides the final push needed to make the leap of faith into the water, and over to Canada. However, as quickly as it helps him, it also drives him to turn back when he imagines “villagers with terrible burns, little kids without arms or legs… a slim young man [he] would one day kill with a hand grenade along a red clay trail outside the village of My Khe”. These powerful images result in tim being unable to jump from the boat, and forced to accept his future. His imagination may have projected the possibility for him to change his path in life, but when all is said and done, he must accept his unyielding and unwavering fate.
In the short Story On the Rainy River, we see tim O'brien shift between accepting or rejecting his uncertain future. He envisions what his life will be like during the war when he makes a parallel to his work at the slaughterhouse. He also imagines the distaste of those back where he lives which sways him
to accept his future. But Ultimately, O'brien is unable to jump from the boat and escape his impending responsibility, and is forced to comply with the destiny that has been chosen for him.
By: Joshua V.
The idea that your imagination is a key determining factor in accepting your uncertain future is supported but also refuted in the short story On the Rainy River. The main character, Tim O'brien provides strong evidence for the strength of one's imagination through the visual representation he provides of the slaughterhouse where he works and the way he imagines disappointment and disgust those back in his home would feel. However, at the end of the story it becomes clear that regardless of one's imagination or will, the future is set in stone and the path you walk is already set in stone.
The concept that your imagination is what leads you to reject your uncertain future, during times of overall …show more content…
unsatisfactory circumstances, is evident when O'brien emphasizes how the meat packing plant he works at is a “disassembly line” and is “like standing for eight hours a day under a lukewarm blood-shower”(2). This visual imagery displays to us how gore filled and grotesque his work life is. He uses his experiences in the plant to foreshadow what he anticipates his life in the war will be similar to. The use of the words disassembly line in contrast to the assembly line nature of the plant also serve to provide insight into the state of mind that O'brien is feeling. Earlier in the story we learn that “[he] was drafted to fight a war he hated” because “[he] saw no unity of purpose, no consensus on matters of philosophy or history of law. The very facts were shrouded in uncertainty: Was it a civil war? A war of …”(1). O’brien’s imagination causes him to drift in a direction that results in him ultimately leaving the plant, and attempting to escape to Canada.
Both your past and your imagination help to coerce you into accepting rejecting your uncertain, and sometimes undesirable future. This is clearly supported when before O'brien leaves his work at the slaughterhouse, he begins to realize that “[he] feared the war, yes, but [he] also feared exile”(3) O'brien begins to imagine how the people back in his home town will feel about his decision to flee to Canada. He finds that “it [is] easy to imagine people sitting around a table down at the old Gobbler Cafe on Main Street, coffee cups poised, the conversation slowly zeroing in on [him], how the damned sissy had taken off for Canada”(3) instead of feeling regret and ashamed for his actions, O’brien is instead “bitter, sure. … The emotions went from outrage to terror to bewilderment to guilt to sorrow and then back again to outrage. [He] felt a sickness inside [him]. Real Disease(3). This flare of emotions ultimately leads him to crack and abandon his job. When O'brien imagines how his future life will unfold if he doesn't accept his future, he begins enraged and chooses to deny it partly due to spite for those who would chain him down.
The notion that your imagination leads you to make a decision about your uncertain future, is supported once again when Tim is on the verge of crossing over to Canada.
Tim experiences “A moral freeze: [he] couldn't decide, couldn't act, [he] couldn't comport [himself] with even a pretense of modest human dignity. All [he] could do was cry”. At this point his imagination takes over when he visualizes “[his] parents calling to him from the far shoreline. … All [his] aunts and uncles were there, and Abraham Lincoln, and Saint George…”(). His imagination provides the final push needed to make the leap of faith into the water, and over to Canada. However, as quickly as it helps him, it also drives him to turn back when he imagines “villagers with terrible burns, little kids without arms or legs… a slim young man [he] would one day kill with a hand grenade along a red clay trail outside the village of My Khe”. These powerful images result in tim being unable to jump from the boat, and forced to accept his future. His imagination may have projected the possibility for him to change his path in life, but when all is said and done, he must accept his unyielding and unwavering fate.
In the short Story On the Rainy River, we see tim O'brien shift between accepting or rejecting his uncertain future. He envisions what his life will be like during the war when he makes a parallel to his work at the slaughterhouse. He also imagines the distaste of those back where he lives which sways him
to accept his future. But Ultimately, O'brien is unable to jump from the boat and escape his impending responsibility, and is forced to comply with the destiny that has been chosen for him.