Cowardice and Abandonment The perception of what is wrong wrong or right is questioning your morality. Should you do what is wrong in order to save yourself or do what is right therefore saving another? Do ethics and morality vary based on the situation? What would someone do if their will was in someone else’s hands? Both John Wheelwright and Tim O’Brien had these lingering in their minds since the draft. These two men are put into a situation where many do not have a notion on what to do. They made their choices on beliefs and with the help of others. In A Prayer for Owen Meany and The Things They Carried, Tim and John struggle with morality due to the fact that it is a cowardly act to abandon their nation but also cowardly to abandon one's …show more content…
After John sends Owen his letter, Owen replies back telling him to either join the peace movement or do something else in order to prevent yourself from not going. “I don't see you being happy in the army. I know you don't want to go to Vietnam. But I don't see you in the peace corps either”(Irving 511). Not only does he discourage John but he also says all the things that he “knew” John would not be able to do. Owen is the only one that has a view and an opinion on his situation while the others surrounding him believe that it is something that's obligatory and that you has to do it in order to survive. Both views mention the abandonment of their nation. John does not want to put his country in a compromising position but he also wants others to see it his way. Owen has power over John in a way that many can not understand. The scene where Owen cuts off John’s finger is an example of that. By doing that Owen makes the decision for John to not go to war. The only thing that John said was no. “‘Do you want to spend the rest of your life in Canada ― thinking about what your country did to you’ he asked me. ‘Now that you put it that way ― no,’ I told him” (Irving