"...and then to Vietnam, where I was a soldier, and then home again. I survived, but it's not a happy ending. I was a coward. I went to the war." -- Page 58
I didn't like this chapter. Maybe it's because this guy has gone hippie-liberal on me. Maybe it's because I listen to country music (go figure) and consider myself patriotic. Maybe it's because I'm a narcissist and I don't like when other people think they're better than me.
I don't know.
Anyways, I'd categorize Tim in this chapter as what we literary moguls call an antihero, a person not worthy of the task put in front of him. He avoids the call of duty and runs to Canada (really?) in order to escape confronting his fears. Regardless of what Tim tries to seep into my mind during this chapter, that is not the right thing to do. It was not brave to stay on a resort where you get paid $200 a week for eating an eighty-one year old's food. It takes gall to go off to war, and Tim shames the true heroes in the military by calling himself a coward when he himself comes to terms with his drafting. C'mon Tim, stop being an antihero.
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