Courage is an emotion that inspires someone to be bigger than themselves. This motivational emotion is ignited everyday in one way or another. Whether it is ignited through the courage to speak in front of a class, battle in a war, or simply by stepping out of one’s comfort zone, courage exists in every human being. Due to this powerful emotion, there are millions of descriptions of courage as a concept, if it can even be described in words. Tim O’Brien beautifully encases scenarios of extreme courage throughout his novel Going After Cacciato. Throughout his book, he displays characters and stories in which individuals find and act upon this emotion in varying ways.
Paul Berlin is an up and coming soldier drafted into Vietnam. Under no circumstance was it his plan to be a soldier, let alone be serving his country in the war. Despite being drafted, he experiences finding courage in many new ways. Tim O’Brien shows one of Paul’s methods of maintaining the energy required to serve in war when he writes “It would be a dangerous journey, full of bad times and bad places, and, true, they could not be burdened by weakness of frailty. All true. But Paul Berlin could not stop toying with the idea: a mix of new possibilities. A whole new range of options.” (p.59) Although Berlin made it evident that being a part of war was not his desired occupation, he found the courage to maintain his active duty by looking at war as a place of opportunity. Instead of dreading what he was missing at home, he was intrigued by what he would experience in Vietnam.
As he looked at war as a place of opportunity, Berlin continued to discover the positive aspects of war. Spurred from a pre-war conversation with his father, Berlin believed that a key component to being able to survive war came from maintaining positivity. O’Brien shows Berlin’s pursuit of positivity when he writes “‘You’ll see some terrible stuff, I guess. That’s how it goes. But try to look for the good things, too. They’ll be there if you look. So watch for them.’ [...] Even now, figuring how things might have happened on the road to Paris, it was a way of looking for the very best of all outcomes.” (p. 63) Berlin looked at being drafted into the war as something that he was required to do, there was no way to get out of it. In order to gain the experiences he was hoping to, he needed to find a reason to stay sane. By looking for positivity, Berlin became more at ease with fighting.
Following Berlin’s discovery of a way to make war feel like a safer place, he came to a new conclusion of his feelings of courage. Each of his methods to relieve himself of the horrors of war encouraged him to fight, be powerful, and act upon the courageous feelings that he was having. O’Brien shows this when he writes:
“The issue, of course, was courage. How to behave. Whether to flee or fight or seek an accommodation. The issue was not fearlessness. The issue was how to act wisely in spite of fear. Spiting the deep-running biles: That was true courage. [...] The greater a man’s fear, the greater his potential courage. [...] The real issue was the power of will to defeat fear. A matter of figuring a way to do it. [...] Somewhere inside each man is a biological center for the exercise of courage. [..] A filament, a fuse that if ignited would release the full energy of what it might be.” (p. 81)
Berlin believed that finding his way to be powerful and brave relied on certain methods like his plans to focus of the positivity in war. Early on, Berlin recognized that in order to make it out of war alive, he would need to find a way to ignite the courage to fight, a way to ignite our biological desire to survive.
Although Berlin was a main character, he was not the only character to experience courage and find courage in dramatic ways; Lieutenant Sidney Martin found courage as a leader. Being a leader provides boundless opportunities to be incorrect in the decisions that one makes. Of course, this level is increased significantly in high-risk situations. Martin confronts his failure in remarkable ways such as death of his troops and later the death of himself. Decisions that he made were often criticized by those around him. Martin act courageously as he made high-risk decisions and led his squad through high-risk situations, but it didn’t stop there, Martin encouraged other troops to act in brave ways. O’Brien shares Martin’s struggle and perseverance when he writes:
“The lieutenant did not enjoy fighting battles. [...] But the battles had to be fought. [...] He did not celebrate war. He did not believe in glory. But he recognized the
enduring appeal of battle: the chance to confront death many times. [...] Sidney Martin believed in war as a means to ends. A means of confronting ending itself. [...] He believed that the overriding mission was the inner mission, the mission of
every man to learn the important things about himself. [...] The mission to the
mountains, important in itself, was even more important as a reflection of a man’s
personal duty to exercise his full capacities of courage and endurance and
willpower.” (p. 166)
Martin believed that each person had the ability to be the most courageous person alive, but it took endless effort and struggle. He believed that the place that held the most courageous actions was in war. Martin thought that in order to experience true courage, one must face death head on and march out.
As a leader, Lt. Sidney Martin went beyond holding courage himself, but he found unique ways to encourage his squad to be courageous. Through conversations and his actions, Martin effectively inspired his troops to be strong and persistent. O’Brien shares his actions and his troops reactions when he writes:
“‘If we fight well,’ Sidney Martin had said before the march, ‘fewer men will be killed than if we fight poorly.’ [..] He (Paul Berlin) had no love of mission, no love strong enough to make himself fight well, and, though he wanted now to stop, he was amazed at the way his legs kept moving beneath him. Paul Berlin, who had no desire to confront death until he was old and feeble, and who believed firmly that he could not survive a true battle in the mountains, marched up the road knowing he would not fight well. [...] Lt Sidney Martin watched him come. He admired the oxen persistence, [...] thinking the boy represented so much good - fortitude, discipline, loyalty, self-control, courage, toughness. The greatest gift of God, thought the lieutenant in admiration of Private First Class Paul Berlin’s climb, is freedom of will.” (p. 167)
Martin inspired greatness in his troops. He inspired his followers to be courageous, to encounter death in each battle because they made the conscious decision to do so. Nothing was forcing them to be there fighting, yet they were. Martin enforced his definition of courage into each troop as an individual.
Berlin and Martin believed in different working definitions of courage. They both agreed that courage came from the ability to make your own decisions and acting upon the personal decision to be great. Each character held themselves to a different level of courageousness and faced death with different intents. Berlin looked at finding ways to be courageous and outlast the war by connecting with himself through positive thoughts. On the other hand, Martin looked to win the war through forcing his troops to face personal battles each day. Courage was found in every battle and day that the characters experienced in war through the courage to continue, the courage to lead, and the courage to exist.
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