Sunday, November 14, 2010

On the Rainy River by Tim O’Brien


The story is about a man named Tim who kept a painful secret for many years from his family, relatives and friends. When Tim was 21 years old, he was drafted to fight an American war in Vietnam as a soldier. He was reserved to fight the people in Vietnam. He hated his job because he didn’t know what the main reason was for fighting in Vietnam. He saw a full shed of blood everywhere. He also killed the people without knowing what the system look alike in Vietnam. This secret he had not shared with his family has made him very disgusting and rage because he did not want his family to be upset and spoiled.

He wanted to have a confession for this mistake but he hardly finds it. One day, he went to his work, he used to clean the blood out from the inside of the pigs with the water gun. The fluids splashed everywhere even on Tim’s body. He found this very disgusting and made him remembering his job to kill the people in Vietnam. He left his work and went to the Rainy River where there was a beautiful lake adjacent to Canada. He spent his days at Tip Top Lodge and he met the old man there. He was very satisfied with him because he offered accommodation for him and took him out for a lake view. He planned to suicide himself but couldn’t. The environment and the landscape of the Rainy River have made Tim feel relaxing and keep away from his worries. Finally, he was survived but he felt like a coward because he went to the war. He went back home.

I was very sad with his secret. He should’ve shared his secret with his families and church advisors who can help him solve his problem. If I had a killing-secret, I would share with my adults who could help me find a way to confessing and forgetting what I was doing in the past. This same kind of experiences had happened to some of the soldiers whose job is to kill the enemies.

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