Tim O. Brien's On The Rainy River By Tim O Brien

Why did the Vietnam War really start? Why was the United States fighting? Did it have something to do with the Domino Theory? All of these were questions Tim O’Brien had in “On the Rainy River.” O’Brien was an average young adult who had a job and a family and who did not really care about the Vietnam War that was going on. On day, O’Brien received a draft notice and all his thoughts on the war changed, but not in a good way. He hated the war so much that he went up to the northern tip of Minnesota to then go into Canada to escape it. The Vietnam War caused O’Brien to receive the draft which effected O’Brien by him redefining his beliefs on politics and war and by him redefining his beliefs on courage. There was many causes as to why O’Brien
One effect it had on him was that he redefined his beliefs on the war and on politics. At first, O’Brien knew that the war was going on, but he did not know that actual cause of why the US was at war. He wondered “Was it a civil war? . . . Who started it, and when, and why?” (1002). He did not know much about the war because it did not impact him in any way. After he received the draft, he hated the war. O’Brien thought he was too smart, too good to go to war. O’Brien wonder why “one of LBJ’s pretty daughters” did not have to go fight the war or “some dumb jingo in his hardhat and Bomb Hanoi button” (1003). He thought that it is way easier to sign paperwork about the war then it is to go, to fight, and to die. O’Brien thought that there should be a law that “If you support the war. . . then you have to put your own life on the line. . . and you have to bring along your wife, or you kids, or your lover (1003). This is a major effect it had on O’Brien and how he redefined his beliefs on the war and on
O’Brien used to believe that everyone had courage and that “[He] would simply tap a secret reservoir of courage” and it would be there for him (1000). He found out that not everyone has courage because on the boat when he had to make a huge choice is his life, to go to war or go to Canada, O’Brien had no courage. He could have gone to Canada, but he had no courage to do it. It would have been better to go to Canada at that time if you disagreed with the war but O’Brien had no courage to do it because fear and embarrassment got in the way. His final thoughts on the boat was that “[He] would go to the war -- [he] would kill and maybe die -- because [he] was too embarrassed not to go” (1016). O’Brien realized that not everyone has courage and that it is something to work for. The draft affected O’Brien to redefine his beliefs on