internal conflict
This is the main moral decision that torments the narrator throughout the chapter.
What is whether to flee to Canada or go to Vietnam
This choice defines the narrator’s moral crisis: obey the draft and go to war, or do this instead.
What is flee to Canada?
This point of view is used in the chapter, allowing the reader direct access to the narrator’s internal conflict.
What is first-person?
Though he rarely speaks, this is the key way Elroy helps the narrator confront his crisis.
What is offering silent understanding?
Tim O’Brien receives his draft notice in this year, marking the beginning of his moral crisis.
What is 1968?
The narrator feels this intense emotion at the thought of what others would think if he dodged the draft.
What is embarrassment or shame?
The narrator believes that running to Canada would be brave, but doing this would make him seem cowardly in the eyes of others.
What is going to war?
The chapter is told as a flashback, written from this perspective in time, years after the events took place.
What is the present looking back on the past?
Elroy owns and operates this quiet, remote location where the narrator takes refuge.
What is the Tip Top Lodge?
O’Brien refers to this as a “mistake” and “wrong,” expressing his belief that the war is unjust.
What is the Vietnam War?
Although he believes the war is unjust, the narrator ultimately chooses to go—revealing this painful irony.
What is he acts against his own beliefs to avoid social rejection?
The narrator's decision is haunted not by law or politics, but by this powerful emotional force.
What is fear of embarrassment (or fear of shame)?
The narrator begins the chapter by stating this emotion—often avoided in war stories—is the reason he’s finally telling it.
What is embarrassment?
Rather than forcing advice, Elroy uses this subtle method to help the narrator make his own decision.
What is indirect guidance (or quiet presence)?
Instead of reporting for duty, Tim drives north toward this country, contemplating escape.
What is Canada?
This moment on the river represents the climax of the narrator’s internal conflict.
What is when he cries in the boat and imagines everyone from his life watching him?
Tim O’Brien describes his actions not as brave, but as this, revealing his view that he failed his own moral test.
What is cowardly?
This literary technique is used when O’Brien directly addresses the reader about truth and fiction, blurring reality and storytelling.
What is metafiction?
This symbolic gesture—taking the narrator fishing on the river—places him literally and metaphorically on the border between two paths.
What is bringing him to the Rainy River?
This emotion, tied to fear of embarrassment and rejection, ultimately convinces O’Brien to accept the draft.
What is shame?
This metaphor the narrator uses compares his fear of shame to this powerful force, showing how it overwhelms his conscience.
What is a physical burden or weight?
In the final moment of decision, the narrator imagines his family, friends, and townspeople doing this, symbolizing societal judgment.
What is watching him from the shore?
The climax of the chapter occurs not with action, but in this quiet yet powerful moment of decision.
What is when O’Brien chooses not to jump from the boat into Canada?
Elroy functions in this literary role, often guiding the hero through a moral or spiritual decision without taking sides.
What is a mentor or spiritual guide (or "wise old man" archetype)?
O’Brien criticizes this societal expectation, which pressures young men to fight regardless of their beliefs.
What is blind patriotism or conformity?