The wars don't end when you sign peace treaties or when the years go by. They will echo on until I'm gone and all the widows and orphans are gone.
Tim O'BrienRead
They did not submit to the obvious alternative, which was simply to close the eyes and fall. So easy, really. Go limp and tumble to the ground and let the muscles unwind and not speak and not budge until your buddies picked you up and lifted you into the chopper that would roar and dip its nose and carry you off to the world. A mere matter of falling, yet no one ever fell. It was not courage, exactly; the object was not valor. Rather, they were too frightened to be cowards.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote illustrates the struggle between courage and cowardice, highlighting the fear of falling rather than a noble bravery.
In this quote, Tim O'Brien reflects on the moral dilemma faced by individuals in dire situations, suggesting that the choice not to submit to despair is not necessarily an act of courage but rather a reaction to a deep-seated fear of cowardice. The passage emphasizes that, although falling may seem like an easy option, it is the fear of surrendering to that option that drives people to fight against their instincts and maintain their resolve in the face of adversity.
Themes
CourageFearAdversityResolveStruggle
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a speech about overcoming challenges in life.
More from Tim O'Brien
All quotes →...you find yourself studying the fine colors on the river, you feel wonder and awe at the setting of the sun, and you are filled with a hard, aching love for how the world could be and always should be, but now is not.
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Unlike Chicago or New York, small-town Minnesota did not allow a man's failings to disappear beneath a veil of numbers. People talked. Secrets did not stay secret.
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Place is so important to me. The Midwest is like a ghost in my life. It's present as I look out the window now. I see Texas, but if I close my eyes and look out the same window, I'm back in my hometown in Worthington, Minnesota, and I cherish those values and that diction.
Tim O'BrienRead
In fiction workshops, we tend to focus on matters of verisimilitude largely because such issues are so much easier to talk about than the failure of imagination.
Tim O'BrienRead
War is a fundamental aspect of human existence. It's good to know what war entails and what the human sacrifice is.
Tim O'BrienRead
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