Public Opinion vs. Personal Belief

In the fourth chapter of The Things They Carried O'Brien tells the story of his struggle of whether to draft dodge or not. O'Brien does not agree with the war and has no drive to go to Vietnam, but the main reason he does not leave for Canada is his towns opinion of him. O'Brien can not imagine the embarrassment that comes with dodging. He fears that he would be ostracized, and even imagines the conversations townsfolk would have once he was gone. However, like most teenagers in the country he personally does not agree with the war. He does not want to lay his life down in some foreign land. O'Brien's conflict of public opinion vs personal belief took  hold of the many of the young men drafted. The conflict is epitomized when O'Brien is 20 yards from Canada's shore. He of course could swim to the shore, get away and never step foot in Vietnam. However, getting to the shore would be cold and uncomfortable for him. O'Brien does not go to Canada because he can not bear to live the rest of his life with a chip on his shoulder. He wants the approval of the people around him, so he has to go to war. His personal beliefs are pushed down by a fear of not being loved. While today people might call O'Brien cowardly for going against his beliefs, few wanted to go against public onion during the draft.