Everyone in their lifetime experiences choices that could potentially change everything. It’s not necessarily a detriment, but it’s all about the path you choose to take whether it’s the easy or hard way. In the chapter “On the Rainy River” from Tim O’Brien’s story The Things They Carried the epic hero has withstood the test of time. In the test, Tim introduces the way war makes him feel when he states, “But war twists and shifts the landmarks by which we navigate our lives, casting light on darkened areas that for many people remain forever unexplored”(Mockenhaupt). This direct quote supports my claim because he’s suggesting that war means hope and renewal. It closes the dark doors such as despair or ignorance when you explore it. In other …show more content…
Once the darkened spaces become lit, they become a part of us. They make us the people we are today and form how we feel. They could also affect the way one might see the world, if it’s for better or for worse. Readers should notice how this quote, to the writer, suggests that war changed his life in a good way providing a new vision which he has never experienced before. Additionally, in this next excerpt readers will understand the pain Tim went through by taking the hard way out and going to war when he states, “And right then I submitted. I would go to war--I would kill and maybe die--because i was embarrassed not to”(O’Brien57). At this point in the chapter, I believe Tim O’Brien knew what he had to do; therefore, it supports my claim that he has withstood the test of time because even though he was maudlin and petrified, he realized it was more important to represent his country rather than take the cowardly way out as he sat on the shoreline of Canada. It’s important for readers to notice the ideas above because if they didn’t they wouldn’t realize that everyone has fears. You wrestle with what’s right and morally