Applying Literary Theory to a Short Story

Picture Source: https://www.chipublib.org/tim-obrien-biography/

The short story, “The Rainy River”, tells the story of Tim O’Brien who was drafted to fight in the Vietnam war, and the personal struggle that he went through as a result of it.

For me, I believe that the most appropriate literary theory to analyze this short story is the Reader Response theory. I found that when I was reading the story the best theory I could relate to was the Reader Response theory because it allows me to

look at the short story from my point of view, whereas with the other literary theories I have to look at it from their perspectives. I find that I can connect to the story more from this point of view and therefore I can write more about the topic at hand.

“The Rainy River”, was a very interesting story and I think that a lot of us can relate to certain themes and ideas in it. Many of us, when we get scared or we think a situation might have danger, we sometimes don’t want to do it because we are too scared of the end result. This is what happens with Tim. He is drafted to fight in the Vietnam war and has this reaction, “Beyond all this, or at the very center, was the raw fact of terror. I did not want to die.”

I know that when I face situations that are scary, I debate whether or to I should allow myself to face them, just like Tim did in this story. He wrestles with the idea of running away to Canada to avoid going to Vietnam. He states, “Both my conscience and my instincts were telling me to make a break for it, just take off and run like hell and never stop.” Also, like Tim, decisions in life are often not clear and are difficult to make. While Tim is afraid to go to the Vietnam war, and doesn’t want to for moral reasons, he is also afraid to run away to Canada. When faced with the chance to do so, he writes that he was in “A moral freeze: I couldn't decide, I couldn't act.” I have felt before that it’s been very difficult to make a decision, to see clearly what the right thing is to do, from little things – like having to decide on what ice cream to get when there is a big line-up behind you, to more difficult decisions, like saying no to peer pressure. I can’t imagine how difficult Tim’s decision was – when so much was at stake.

The old man in the story makes me think about the fact that we all have people in our lives that we could call “angels”. These people help us along, whether by giving important advice, moral support, comfort and so on. Elroy Berdahl was a stranger who turned into a friend and helped Tim in exactly the way he needed. This part of the story also reminds me about how it is important to have gratitude for the people that are our “angels”. Tim writes that, “the man saved me”, and how the story is a gesture of thanks to him for what he did for Tim.

I really liked this story. While I have never had to make a life and death decision like Tim did, I felt that I could make a lot of connections to it using the Reader Response theory, and it was also a very interesting story. I can’t imagine what it was like for Tim, and so many other people, to have to go and fight in a war like Vietnam. It makes me appreciate our peaceful Canada even more!