Monday, January 25, 2010

"On the Rainy River" The Things They Carried response

My favorite chapter in the book was "On the rainy river". The chapter is the hook of the book- he essentially describes why he went to war, which is the prime question asked by anyone curious enough to bother. The lines that I loved the best from the chapter was, "Certain blood was being shed for uncertain reasons." and "I would go to the war - I would kill and maybe die - because I was embarassed not to. The story is beautifully written, filled with feelings of a kid in College- "All I could was cry. Quitely, not bawling, just the chest-chokes." The scenes are aesthetic- "The afternoon was sunny and cold. A stiff breeze came in from the north.. the boat made rocking motions... the air had the brittle scent of October." The part of the story where he is torn apart between choosing Canada or his hometown is in my opinion one of the most beautifully written passages in the book.



What does this book make me feel about the issue of war? Well, it makes me thing that sending soldiers off to a no-man's land and wearing Suit and comfortably sitting in the White House is no less than commiting Genocide- a genocide against all the soldiers, all the young men of the country. In Page 40 in the book, Tim O'Brien says, Knowledge, of course, is always imperfect, but it seemed

3 comments:

  1. I agree with you this chapter shows how life was at that time when they were forced to go to Vietnam war.

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  2. I agree this because it tells you how war is dificult when you get forced rather than when you want yourself wothout get forcing anyone else.

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  3. The quote you had about people going to war for the sole reason of avoiding shame is interesting. I think there is less of these occurrences nowadays since we no longer have a draft, which is the way I believe it should be. It seems unfair to me to force someone to fight for a cause they don't believe in or don't understand.

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