Depiction of Water in: The Rainy River and The ReturnBy:

Peter DerksSeptember 29, 2009

In the story The Rainy River water is illustrated as being quick and peaceful and is located

between the U.S.-Canada border. The river is located beside Tip Top Lodge, where Tim O’Brien stayed

for six days before going off to war. The old man he was staying with at the lodge took him to the

opposite bank via a small boat. This is relevant because O’Brien wanted to cross the river into Canada to

escape being drafted into the war. After much deliberation with himself, he forces himself to return to

the lodge and later enter the Vietnam War.

In the story The Return the Honia River is described as “[moving] swiftly, making ceaseless

monotonous murmurs”. Kamua, a black man arrested by security officers at his home village, returns

only to find his wife remarried and everyone believing he was a dead. He carried a cotton cloth sac with

faded flowers on it, which was swept into the Honia River.

The norm of water in these stories is to compliment the main character’s actions, the calmness

of the Rainy River reflects Tim O’Brien, when “[all he] could do was cry, quietly, not bawling”. The Honia

River is described as a fast, ceaseless and rough much like the tone of the story, however, the Rainy

River is quick, precise and free-flowing and represents Tim O’Brien’s thoughts while staying at the lodge

and while in the boat on the river. In both short stories the current is fast showing how climatic events

occur in seconds and yet can still have influential consequences. Yet even with the rapid current, there

is a calming serenity allowing the protagonist to think, evaluate and determine their fate as stated in The

Rainy River; “[A] vastness to the world, an unpeopled rawness,”. Also stated in The Return; “[It’s] cool

living water, warmed his heart”. Even though each of the two stories is fiction, the water causes it have

a believability to it that makes it captivating and entrancing. The water soothes the reader allowing him

to relate to the stories even though they may have no experience or history of the places.

Bibliography BIBLIOGRAPHY O'Brien, T. (2002). The Rainy River. In K. F. Evans, Imprints 12 (pp. 70-84). Gage Learning Company.

Thiong'o, N. w. (2002). The Return. In K. F. Evans, Imprints 12 (pp. 45-49). Gage Learning Company.