Connecting with the Characters; Rachel Nicodemus

The story that has meant the most to me so far is " Speaking of Courage." It meant a lot to me because it really puts you into a soldiers place, and the stuff they carry around after the war. It makes you sad and makes the reader feel for him, and people like him going through the same issues. In the story Norman drives around the 7 mile road around the lake many times just thinking over and over again how he would tell his story to people like his dad, or a girl he liked in high school, Sally Kramer. Tim O'Brien uses inner monologue in Normans story a lot to show the reader the constant battle he went through everyday about if he should feel like a hero or if he is just simply a coward because he let Kiowa die.

A character that I connect with so far is the author, Tim O'Brien. I really got a taste of who he is as a person and his own personal struggles in the story "On the Rainy River." It showed how he had morals and strong beliefs and did not want to be forced into something. He had to run away, to escape  everything in order to come to his final decision, mostly by himself. When faced with he hard decision to run from the war and the draft or to toughen up and go he was so torn because he really did not want to go either way. He did not handle the change very well (the war) it messed up his life and what he looked forward to and wanted to accomplish. If I was in his position I believe I would have done something very similar to what he did, sometimes you just have to get away from your everyday life, your family/friends, and your problems to realize some things, and think through things on your own.

Again, the story "Speaking of Courage" really spoke to me. I believe that it was so touching and made me feel so many emotions because of the great use of inner dialogue in the story. It allowed me to enter Normans mind, and he thoughts and somewhat feel pain for him and what he was going through. Inner Dialogue is a very powerful tool to use in writing, it would not have been perfect in every story but it fit Norman's story very well.

 In the story "The Man I Killed" O'Brien repeats over and over what the body of the man he killed looked like. He also goes on and makes up what the kid might have been like which seems to be an almost exact comparison to himself. " The young man would not have wanted to be a solider and in his heart would have feared performing badly in battle." (p.121) It seems like in this description Tim is talking about himself which is a very moving way to read his thoughts, in complete metaphor.