On the Rainy River

“On the Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien is a short story detailing the emotional struggle a young man goes through after discovering that he has been drafted into the Vietnam war. The young man has just graduated from college and is planning on attending Harvard for graduate school when his draft notice comes. After spending a few weeks trying to adjust to the concept of going to war, and spending his time working in a slaughterhouse, his thoughts start to turn towards running to Canada, but he can’t decide which fate is worse; running to Canada to keep from fighting in a war he does not believe in, or going to war and living up to the expectations of his parents and his community. Finally, he breaks one day while at work, packs a bag, and starts to head north.
While still debating whether or not to run to Canada, the main character finds a small cabin resort and decides to stop there for a few days while he processes his thoughts. There he meets an old man named Elroy. This quiet gruff old man rents the young man one of his cabins, and the two spend some time together, and apart, before the young man makes up his mind and goes back home to face his future as a soldier.
While this story has a number of themes and possible extrapolations, one theme that really stood out to me is the connection, in the young man’s mind, between his job at the slaughter house, and his future in the war. The character states that he keeps “thinking about the war and the pig factory and how my life seemed to be collapsing toward slaughter” (O’Brien 42). Taking aim at that pig with his watergun and shooting the blood clots out of it, is very reminiscent to some of the things the young man thought he could never be able to do, like “charging an enemy position, and taking aim at another human being” (44). The memories he will have of the war will stick to him the same way the stench of those pigs did; “the stink was always there-- like old bacon, or sausage, a dense greasy pig-stink that soaked deep into my skin and hair” (43). What makes this analogy relevant is its own irrelevance; while the young man can just drop everything and run from his job, he cannot just drop everything and run from this war, as much as he may want to. This whole story revolves around his coming to terms with this fact. For those of us who may not fully understand the social climate surrounding the Vietnam war, you can get more information on the Vietnam war, please click “On the Rainy River” by Tim O’Brien is a short story detailing the emotional struggle a young man goes through after discovering that he has been drafted into the Vietnam war. The young man has just graduated from college and is planning on attending Harvard for graduate school when his draft notice comes. After spending a few weeks trying to adjust to the concept of going to war, and spending his time working in a slaughterhouse, his thoughts start to turn towards running to Canada, but he can’t decide which fate is worse; running to Canada to keep from fighting in a war he does not believe in, or going to war and living up to the expectations of his parents and his community. Finally, he breaks one day while at work, packs a bag, and starts to head north.
While still debating whether or not to run to Canada, the main character finds a small cabin resort and decides to stop there for a few days while he processes his thoughts. There he meets an old man named Elroy. This quiet gruff old man rents the young man one of his cabins, and the two spend some time together, and apart, before the young man makes up his mind and goes back home to face his future as a soldier.
While this story has a number of themes and possible extrapolations, one theme that really stood out to me is the connection, in the young man’s mind, between his job at the slaughter house, and his future in the war. The character states that he keeps “thinking about the war and the pig factory and how my life seemed to be collapsing toward slaughter” (O’Brien 42). Taking aim at that pig with his watergun and shooting the blood clots out of it, is very reminiscent to some of the things the young man thought he could never be able to do, like “charging an enemy position, and taking aim at another human being” (44). The memories he will have of the war will stick to him the same way the stench of those pigs did; “the stink was always there-- like old bacon, or sausage, a dense greasy pig-stink that soaked deep into my skin and hair” (43). What makes this analogy relevant is its own irrelevance; while the young man can just drop everything and run from his job, he cannot just drop everything and run from this war, as much as he may want to. This whole story revolves around his coming to terms with this fact. For those of us who may not fully understand the social climate surrounding the Vietnam war, you can get more information on the Vietnam war, please click here.
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