In the story "On the Rainy River", Tim O'Brien had just graduated from college. He had a full scholarship to go study at Harvard. But before he could go, he received a letter from the government notifying him that he had been drafted into the military to go and fight in Vietnam. He didn't want to go , but he didn't know what to do. So after several weeks of trying to decide what to do, he decided he would run away to Canada, because he was scared to go to Vietnam. But he didn't make it to Canada. He stopped at an old fishing resort right across the border from Canada. He spent several days there trying to decide if he really wanted to go into Canada and risk never being able to come back into the US again. He was there for 6 days, and on that last day, he went fishing with the owner of the resort. And that was where he broke down and cried and decided that he was going to go to Vietnam.
In the beginning of the story, O'Brien tells us that he felt that he was strong, that he could be a hero. He felt that if he ever had to make a hard decision, that he would make the right choice, no matter how hard it was. But by choosing to go to war, he proved himself wrong. He didn't want to go, but he was more scared of being ridiculed and shamed by his family and friends than he was of dying in war. He went, not because he felt patriotic or because he supported the war, or even because he needed the money. He went because he was scared. He was scared of the opinions of people who didn't matter, but whose opinions mattered to him. He admits to this in the last 2 sentences of the story, where he says, " I was a coward. I went to the war (O'Brien p 61)." He had not been able to make the decision he thought was right when it mattered the most. He gave in to the pressure and ended up having to go and fight in Vietnam.
I got the image from : http://www.miracosta.edu/home/gfloren/O%27Brien-Things.htm
Here is a site with many stories about other young men who went through the draft lottery for the Vietnam War: http://www.vietnamwardraftlottery.com/phpnuke/modules.php?name=Stories_Archive&sa=show_all
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