Choices and Manhood

Paper Summary:

The paper focuses on two stories that illustrate how adulthood arrives: "On the Rainy River" by Tim O'Brien and "The A & P" by John Updike. The paper shows how the characters, Tim and Sammy, young men from small towns, make choices that bring them closer to manhood than they might imagine. The paper then shows how these young men are more interested in their immediate futures than their long-term futures and they make decisions based upon what others think of them.

From the Paper:

"In "On the Rainy River," the narrator struggles over his decision and part of his struggle comes from what others will think of him. He does not know nor does he care that his choice will be one that helps him become a man - at the moment, he is only concerned with what he will do about the draft. His choice is difficult because what he thinks he wants to do is in conflict with what he thinks he should do. He is pulled by his sense of community in that when he is finally presented with the opportunity to cross the border, he cannot because his mind keeps returning to what he should do. He knows that the people in his hometown, " a conservative little spot on the prairie, a place where tradition is counted," (O'Brien 45) will look at him one way if he goes to war and another way if he dodges the draft."

Sample of Sources Used:

• O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. New York: Broadway Books. 1990.
• Updike, John. "A & P." The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. New York: W. W. Norton and Company. 1981. pp. 1416-1421.

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