Courage in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carry

Courage is a very sticky word that you can either possess as a hero or be alienated by it and most likely be considered a coward. In Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carry, he gives us a very descriptive and in depth of his own confusing and crippling journey of the days and month around his draft notification and his struggles of recognizing the fact that he was going to be a soldier in the Vietnam War, the war he may not have believed which was moral and right, yet was still going on. "On the Rainy River" shows us what courage may be to some through the eyes of a new draftee in a way you may not have ever seen it portrayed before.

In my eyes, O'Brien's theory of what courage is could be considered many things. The sight of his draft notice brought many things out and about in his mind, mainly the fact of �I was too good for this war. Too smart, too compassionate, too everything. It couldn't happen. I was above it.' (41) He didn't have enough in him to let his parents know that he was the next to be shipped off for combat. This was his own personal demon to take care of, not his parents or anybody else's. So, naturally as a lot of people despising the draft did, he packed his bags, emptied out his savings account and took the first high road for Canada. Before he left, the tension and pressure was building up inside of him. He vividly encountered, �I felt isolated; I spent a lot of time alone. And there was also that draft notice tucked away in my wallet.' (43) Taking off for Canada would solve his short term problem, but eventually it would catch up with him as he would not be able to live with it and forgive himself for not complying with the draft notice that was sent to him. Self courage would be present inside by taking a stand against the war and doing the necessary things to save himself but in due time, mass cowardice would prevail from everybody else for not stepping up to the plate and serving your country when called upon to. The theory of courage that O'Brien portrays is one of that he could run forever from his draft notice, but he would eventually run out of road to take and he might as well face his draft notice clear in the face now before he puts it aside and never forgives himself for it. He had to do what was necessary. Courage is what helped him face his destiny in the long run.

O'Brien's account of viewing himself entering the war as an act of cowardice is one that couldn't be more honest than it was than how he wrote it. He realized his destiny on the lake in Canada.

And what was so sad, I realized, was that Canada had become a pitiful fantasy. Silly and hopeless. It was no longer a possibility. Right then, with the shore so close, I understood that I would not do what I should do. I would not swim away from my hometown and my country and my life. I would not be brave. That old image of myself as a hero, as a man of conscience and courage, all of that was just a threadbare pipe dream. (57)

The fact that he considered entering the war as an act of cowardice didn't surprise me one bit. Being a hero as much as he wanted to be, it was all just a realization of the thing he wasn't. Running to Canada away from the draft was just a joke. It would never work out in the long run. He couldn't just throw out away the life and niche he had carved out at home. All the people that ran through his mind were ones he couldn't forsake by doing this. Everything he had done in his 21 years of existence were not pieces of toilet paper to flush down the toilet and forget about them forever. Vietnam was his destiny.all along. �I passed through the towns with familiar names, through the pine forests and down to the prairie, and then to Vietnam, where I was a soldier, and then home again. I survived, but it's not a happy ending. I was a coward. I went to the war.' (61) I really wasn't surprised at all that he portrayed himself as a coward in his entry. It was best that he went to Vietnam as a realized coward in heart instead of something completely opposite of what he really was.

Entering a war is never an easy task for anybody involved. War is never pretty or glamorous. Neither is it a walk in the park. I do wholeheartedly agree that a person could enter a war as an act of cowardice. It may be the fact of they realize that they aren't going to be a hero in this process. Also it could be knowing that entering whatever war they are about to is just a step in the journey known as life. Sure, it may not be the thing they 100% believe in or put their stamp of approval behind but they realize that it is something necessary. They will not go into the war as a hero but as a coward. It may be of light that they know that they may not be able to run from going into the war. The fantasy of starting a new life somewhere new away from entering the war will not work. There was no way around this one for O'Brien.

O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. Broadway Books: New York.
1995.