On The Rainy River by Tim O'Brien Book Review

“Even in my imagination... I couldn’t make myself brave. It had nothing to do with morality. Embarrassment, that’s all it was”.  Morality is the laws and rules which individuals accept as a sense of duty and follow it. Morality is a human response to ethics whether they choose to follow them or not it all comes back to human morals. Morality is the distinction between what is right or what is wrong in one's choices, actions, and intentions. In “On the Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien, the author and main character Tim O’Brien got drafted into a war that he hated. The story concentrates on the main character’s battles against his conscience and his fear of humiliation. In “On the Rainy River” O’Brien suggests that an individual’s actions and choices are highly determined by their moral values, how they wish to be perceived, how their destiny is planned out and the consequences of their actions.

Moral values define who an individual is and what they believe in. The protagonist Tim O'Brien was a typical young man, a fresh college graduate with big dreams. Tim, a young twenty-one-year-old, was drafted into the Vietnam War only a month after graduating. Tim O'Brien was at a loss as to how to respond to the conscription letter, experiencing feelings of anger, anxiety, and sadness. “It was a moral split. I couldn't make up my mind”......” The emotions went from outrage to terror to bewilderment to guilt to sorrow and then back again to outrage.” Tim’s character is facing a man vs self conflict, he is conflicted against his morals and his conscience.  “My conscience told me to run, but some irrational and powerful force was resisting, like a weight of shame. I was ashamed of my conscience, ashamed to be doing the right thing.” Tim’s morals tell him to do what he believes is right, hence Tim faces moral confusion because he does not know what is the right thing to do. Although Tim was ashamed of his choices, his morals do not allow him to fight a war that is not necessary. His conscience tells him to run and flee this useless war. Tim was afraid of the prospect of losing his life. Tim O'Brien was forced to choose between entering the war and fleeing. He considers the morality of this decision because he is afraid of losing his dignity and being mocked; he suffers from a “moral freeze,” unable to make a decision.

Being self-aware of the world and people around you, as well as how they perceive you as a human, is a very important thing in life. Perception is an attribution of how society perceives an individual's sense of behaviour, whether they are acting on a personal instinct or acting based on the situation they are in, and in society, people appear to behave based on how they are viewed by others. Perception is influenced by the environment in which a person is placed; they are unable to comprehend the unfamiliar surroundings; as a result, an individual perceives others based on how they act and present themselves. “All of us, I suppose, like to believe that in a moral emergency we will behave like the heroes of our youth.” Tim O’Brien grew up in an environment that expects him to be brave and fight for his country even if the fight is completely useless. The Character of was Tim was politically naïve, his thought was that if someone believed in war, they should fight for it.  “There should be a law, I thought. If you support a war, if you think it’s worth the price, that’s fine, but you have to put your own life on the line”. Tim did not want to be perceived as a coward for not joining the war; he did not want to be perceived as a disgrace to the country or his family; he wished that the surrounding people understood his point of view, but instead he will be shamed and ridiculed for shirking his duty as a citizen. To avoid being easily persuaded by society, a person must have a strong will and control over both their lives and emotions.

Nobody can absolutely escape destiny because it will happen at some stage. All in this life is predestined by God or gods; an individual will believe that they have control over their own fate, but that is not the case. Individuals will try to direct their will, but in the end, they are helpless over destiny. In the case of Tim O'Brien, he attempted to flee his fate and forge a new course in life. When Tim wanted to flee to Canada, he felt that he was altering his fate by fleeing from what was destined for him. “I did not want to die. Not ever. But certainly not then, not there, not in a wrong war…. I wanted to live the life I was born to—a mainstream life”, Tim loved his life, he had lofty goals for himself, and the war was an impediment in his direction. Tim reasoned that the only way to live the life he believed was meant for him was to avoid the impediment. In this short story, O'Brien is essentially suggesting that destiny cannot be predicted and that an individual's acts and decisions all contribute to his fate. An individual’s decisions form an individual’s image and character, and their decisions are part of predetermined destiny.

Tim reflected on his choices and the consequences that would follow the actions he may take. Tim accepted his fate, he still considered himself a coward because he ran away but decided that the best choice for him was to join the war. Tim’s transformation process centred on him. He was the only one who was affected throughout his transformation, he was the one that needed to make up his mind and find the courage that he is lacking to face his fears of war and the judgement of society. Tim’s transformation taught him that he can not just run away from his problems, because even if he avoids his obstacles, there are always consequences that follow. In Tim’s case, his consequences are his feelings of guilt and shame from his actions. “I felt myself blush. I couldn’t tolerate it. I couldn’t endure the mockery, or the disgrace, or the patriotic ridicule…. I survived, but it’s not a happy ending. I was a coward. I went to the war.” Tim battled against his morals during his time at the Tip Top Lodge, and he accepted his defeat by joining the war he tried to avoid so much. Problems in one's life are simply obstacles thrown in one's path to help one develop one's character.

An individual’s choices and actions are influenced by his moral beliefs, how they would like society to view them and how their life is planned to be. One's actions are determined by their choices, and those choices are determined by one background. Life is all about choice, and an individual's choice can bring them inner peace or conflict. Tim was an ordinary young man who had taken a low-key stance against the war and had no intention of taking part in it. Tim suffered from moral confusion, he can not decide what is the right thing to do. Tim made his choices and actions based on how others perceive him over how he sees himself. Tim O’Brien tried to change his destiny, to avoid being drafted, but he learned that he is powerless against fate. Tim decides to work up the courage to join the war because he can not deal with how society will perceive him. Tim O'Brien's character transformation has demonstrated how an individual's choices and actions influence the course of his or her life. Tim's decisions and actions are greatly influenced by how he wants society to view him; the people around him have a superficial sense of patriotism towards their country, and he does not want to be labelled a coward or a "treasonous coward." Individuals are heavily affected by their peers and what they think of them; no one wants to feel excluded from society.