The Tragic Time of the 1960's in Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried"

The short story “On The Rainy River” is a great example which represents a tuff time in 1968. This time was where many men were drafted into war with the mentality that both the men and the society were forced to be afraid to show fear or emotion. It made them all feel ashamed of being “softer”, which then forces them to sexist ideals towards the level of women.

Tom O’Brien, a 21-year-old man who graduated from Macalester College in June 1968 was drafted to fight the American war in Vietnam.

The war to him seemed wrong, causing unnecessary causes and effects, and not having an explanation why he was drafted to war, made his mind go crazy. He thought he was too good to fight in war, but his community pressured him to go, making him think about fleeing the country to escape. He’s against the war in Vietnam, prints some anti-draft editorials and attends a few political meetings here and there.

Still, he is, in his own words, politically naïve. He’s convinced the war is wrong, but he has to admit that it all seems so abstract.

The 1960’s were a time of social upheaval, with the feminist and civil right movements taking place as well, as the country was divided between those who supported the war and those who disagreed with the U.S.’s involvement. “In the evenings I’d sometimes borrow my father’s car and drive aimlessly around town, feeling sorry for myself, thinking about the war and the pig factory and how my life seemed to be collapsing toward slaughter.

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I felt paralyzed. All around me the options seemed to be narrowing, as if I were hurtling down a huge black funnel, the whole world squeezing in tight. There was no happy way out.” (O’Brien)

All young men had no option to not put their life on the line for war, they had their society thinking all men must fight in war, and if you didn’t, it would make you soft and at the same standards as a woman. This quote explains the imagery behind the huge black funnel representing war and the whole world squeezing in tight representing the society forcing men to go to war to do the “right thing” which was fighting for their country. “At night, when I couldn’t sleep, I’d sometimes carry on fierce arguments with those people.

I’d be screaming at them, telling them how much I detested their blind, thoughtless, automatic acquiescence to it all, their simple-minded patriotism, their prideful ignorance, their love-it-or-leave-it platitudes, how they were sending me off to fight a war they didn’t understand and didn’t want to understand.” (O’Brien) Tim’s community did not understand his point of view on war, his civil rights and the postcolonial on the government effects.

Although, the 1960’s were a tragic time for society, they took it out on men, making them think they must go to war, they must do “manly” things to show their confidence and bravery, not to be “soft” like a woman. It was very sexist making the society and the government feel ashamed of their decisions, for their own benefits.