On the Rainy River

The chapter “On the Rainy River” takes place during the summer of 1968 when he receives his draft notification. He had up until that point, been and anti-war advocate by writing editorials for the school newspaper. He thought that he was above the war; that he was of more use as an intellectual. He was furious and believed that if the war should be fought by those who support it, not by those who are drafted into supporting it. O’Brien spent the remainder of the summer working on an assembly line at a slaughterhouse. While working he has nothing put time to contemplate escaping to Canada. He considers the risks of humiliation and being caught, but one day, the urge to run overtakes him and he goes.
He travels up the Rainy River which borders the USA and Canada and stops for a few days at a rundown fishing resort. Although the owner, Elroy, didn’t ask questions, O’Brien was sure that he knew exactly what he was up to. He then spends six days there doing handy work for Elroy. When it came time to bill him, Elroy figured that he owed O’Brien money. Although he refused it, Elroy left the money for him as an “Emergency Fund”(O’Brien 57). The next day Elroy took him out fishing on the river close to the Canadian border. O’Brien is overwhelmed by the decision that he is faced with and just cries while Elroy pretends not to notice. During this time, O’Brien is convicted and believes that the entire universe is watching him betray his nation and he is overwhelmed with the embarrassment of it all. He doesn’t ever jump out, but goes back home and later to Vietnam.
O’Brien starts off the chapter with a guilty conscious confessing that “This is one story I’ve never told before. Not to anyone. Not to my parents, not to my brother, not even to my wife” (O’Brien 43). It is as if he is going into confession, not really on his own free will, but because he cannot stand the shame of what he has to confess any longer. He feels he is a coward for trying to run and failing. But most of all, he feels that he is a coward for submitting and going to war. This chapter is about O’Brien reliving a time when he could have changed any number of things in his life and come out the other side with his dignity still intact for doing what he believed right. But instead, he gave into the high (stronger and more armed) power and went against everything he believed in and went to war.