The Dread of a Draft Note

     One of the main messages conveyed by Tim O'Brien in The Things They Carried, is the complexity of the Vietnam War, and specifically, the controversiality of it. Many men that fought in the Vietnam War did not truly understand it. In past American wars, there was passion and nationalism from the American People. For example, in World War II, the main enemy was clear: it was a fascist tyrant named Adolf Hitler. Americans believed the actions of the Fuhrer were truly despicable and had to be stopped. World War II is easy to understand because there was a clear threat that Hitler would spread his terror across the globe, thus having a direct effect on America. The Vietnam War has been so highly ridiculed in America because of the fact that the lives of American men and American money were spent and thrown away on a war that did not directly affect America. It seemed to cause unjustifiable terror and bloodshed.
     This book exposes the nature of this war for the soldiers who took part in it. Men in America were terrified to be drafted because after all, some of the men did not understand or actually believe in the war. Tim O'Brien shares his own experience in which he almost ran away to Canada because he received a draft note. My own father told me that he used to have nightmares that he would be drafted into war after seeing the movie "The Deer Hunter." My mom told me she used to be terrified the Vietnam War would go on long enough that her two younger brothers would be drafted. This war did not cause nationalism or the unification of Americans, it caused terror. It was not his love for America that made Tim O'brien go back home and accept his draft note, it was his fear of embarrassment.  He decided to accept his fate and fight in a war he did not believe in because he feared the shame that he would have brought to himself and his family by running away. Tim O'Brien's motivating factor to go to war justifies the argument that the Vietnam War was a war fought for the wrong reasons.

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