Several different themes arise in Tim O’Brien’s, The Things I Carried. One of the most common themes used throughout his stories involves the fear of embarrassment. In his story, “On the Rainy River”, O’Brien uses the fear of embarrassment as a powerful element of motivation. When he receives his draft notice he is put in a very difficult situation due to the fact that he does not believe in war and is completely against the idea because he thinks war is unfair. However, he does not want to be seen as a coward in the eyes of everyone else so its almost as if the fear of being ashamed is what motivates him to actually go to war. You would think the main reasons someone would want to go to war would be because of patriotism or love for one’s own country, but in O’Brien’s case, it is simply the fear of embarrassment which is what stops him from fleeing into Canada. Not only does the fear of shame motivate unwilling soldiers to go to war, but it also affects them once they are there. Their relationships with one another are affected because they are worried about being socially accepted during the war which is what causes them to participate in irrational actions. In O’Brien’s story, “The Dentist”, Curt Lemon is so nervous about going to visit the dentist that he faints during his appointment. He is extremely ashamed that everyone witnessed this act of cowardliness, that he insists the dentist pull out a perfectly healthy tooth in order to relieve his shame. He acted in a very unreasonable manner and was not thinking straight. The fear of shame may not seem like a very important factor for the soldiers to think about during war, considering the fact that they will be surrounded by death. Nonetheless it is very real for them and it affects their every day life.
The same fear of embarrassment is in “The Man I Killed” where O’Brien puts himself into the dead soldiers shoes and describes how he specifically did not want to go to war but did it to serve his country, and his uncles did before him. I think O’Brien does this because his is alluding to what he wished he would have joined the war for, which is honor and patriotism as opposed to the fear of looking like a coward. He makes this sort of character to be like his ideal self almost like a hope or a wish to keep himself honest.
ReplyDeleteIronically, O'Brien believes that his decision to go to war in "On the Rainy River" was cowardly in itself, as he is afraid of what other people will think of him if he does not go. He thinks that the braver option would be to reject his draft and move to Canada. There seems to be a strange distinction here between cowardice and heroism and how different people may have contrasting ideas about what it means to be a coward or a hero.
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