On the Rainy River

  

On the Rainy River is a short story inside the book by Tim O’Brien called The Things They carried. I believed this short story to be brutally honest and compelling. It is the personal story of the author who, at the time was a 21 year old college student with his whole life ahead of him, receives the dreaded call to the Vietnam war in the summer of 1968. With the fear of war and death plaguing him, Tim is driven to drive to the border of Minnesota and Canada, where he meets a mild mannered and non prying man, who, unbeknownst to him at the time, offers him just the thing he needs to ultimately decide between a life of running away, or a life of facing the call to war.
　
   I cannot even begin to imagine being forced to fight a war, let alone one you do not understand or stand behind. At the tender age of twenty one, there are so many life experiences you have not had, and it must have been difficult for Tim to have to rationalize being forced to fight for your country. After all, that is a huge responsibility to burden a young man with. Who wants to shed blood over something they do not support? I felt this was Tim O’Brien’s greatest fear, and yet he was also so consumed with the thought of how he would be letting down his family and friends if he ran. I don’t think this is a question anyone should be forced to answer. I think the old man that Tim meets up at Tip Top Lodge made Tim realize that sometimes in life we must do things we really don’t want to do and although he was young and scared, it was a call to duty he had to answer. I’m sure all the young men at that time were facing those same emotions and fears, and I can’t even imagine having to stare death in the face when it was forced upon me. I can only sympathize for the brave young men that fought in the Vietnam War.

To learn more about the Vietnam War
image for river

The Poems that Grabbed Me...

Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting by Kevin C. Powers really emotionally broke me for a minute. This poem brought out emotions in me I keep buried, and pieces of the past that truly tested me. I connected with this poem for so many reasons, but mostly because my husband was a soldier. I know what it means to receive a letter from what seems like a million miles away, written by a shaky and scared hand.  A hand whose finger holds the symbol of the vow you made with him that pretty April afternoon. A letter written by a hand whose owner is more selfless and brave then many of us can comphrehend and a hand that has seen the true face of war and death. I read the words of this poem, the author is probably a soldier himself I guess, and I see my husbands face. I recall the times that war sent him so far away from me, and the times that letters were all we had. I reflect on the time that we were worlds apart, sharing our love through 30 second phone calls, and letters. Letters to me then were more then words on a page, or the smell of distance and oil, they were all that we had most of the time. "I tell her I love her like not killing or ten minutes of sleep." (Powers line 1) This line was so emotionally powerful to me in so many ways. The empathy I have for this soldier, who wants nothing more then to be with his love, to not kill, and to just get a good nights rest, are all things most of us take for granted.  We don't often think about the little things in our lives that come so easy to us,  things that a soldier must live without, or for guilts sake, live with. Although to some, letters are nothing more then archaic and a thing of the past, to a soldier,  they are nothing to take for granted.

The Woman Hanging From the Thirteenth Floor Window by Joy Harjo also touched me emotionally. Being a wife and a mother myself, I felt the raw honesty in this poem. Women in today's society take on many different roles and responsibilities, it is so easy to lose yourself.  "She is her mother's daughter, and her father's son." (Harjo line 8) I believe this line implied the expectations women must sometimes live up to, and the roles different genders see in us. Sometimes a woman can feel overwhelmed and transparent, as though who she really is does not matter, because she is a mother and a wife first and foremost. She takes care of everyone else, and only in private, she can silently fall apart. "She thinks of all the women she has been, of all the men." (Harjo line 51) I felt this line meant how easy it is to stand in a man's shadow, all the while losing tiny pieces of who you are until you feel so empty.  When you try to please everyone, you forget about the things that you, as a woman, love. I think in today's society many women, at some point, just feel lost. I love my husband and children more then anything else, but there are some days, I just need a moment. A moment that is no one else's but my own. A moment to reclaim my own thoughts and opinions and just be in connection with myself. I really believe this keeps me grounded. I think we all have days where we just feel like falling, and we have to take a moment, gather ourselves and our thoughts again, and climb back inside that window that is within ourselves.


To learn more about Kevin C. Powers
For Image: Letter Written
To learn more about Joy harjo
For Image: Girl on Ledge