I really enjoyed reading this story because of the brutal amount of emotion put into how it was written. O'Brien did a really good job of taking his emotions and precisely as well as meticulously forming them into words on paper. For example, here's a short excerpt from the story:
I remember opening up the letter, scanning the few lines, feeling the blood go thick behind my eyes. I remember a sound in my head. It wasn't thinking, just a silent howl.
O'Brien's story, while very tragic, captures the perfect representation of the "typical" person's reactions to a war draft. He didn't read it, tell himself "OOH RAH, LET'S KILL SOME GOOKS", and face the war with sheer force. He was terrified. He wondered how running away would go, how he would survive in Canada, how the Government would hunt him down and prosecute him for dodging the draft. He didn't consider himself the bad-ass warfighter, he was a scared young man. The truthfulness and sheer amount of emotion in his words and the story itself really entrapped me in it, and I really recommend that you read the entire book if you haven't already.
I totally agree with your analysis of O'Brien and "On the Rainy River". O'Brien's brutally honest writing style helps him really connect with his audience and I know after reading I was left impacted by the utter fear one must feel when they are drafted. I think your blog entry is concise in a good way, you get out what you need to say without saying too much. Well done!
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