Close Reading 11/6

"'IF YOU'RE LUCKY ENOUGH TO FIND A WAY OF LIFE YOU LOVE, YOU HAVE TO FIND THE COURAGE TO LIVE IT'" (512).

Owen says this line to John near the end of the novel. He uses this as a way to convince John to allow for him to cut his finger off. He wants to let John know that he needs to have some courage in order for him to actually go through with cutting his finger off. John does not realize that is what Owen actually means when he first says the quote to him. He thinks he is referring to finding some other way to live his, particularly avoiding the war that he does not want to be part of.

The reason behind saying this and cutting John's finger off is because in Owen's dream about his death, he always sees John there. Owen, at this point in the novel, still thinks that he is going to be going to Vietnam and dying there. He does not want John to go to Vietnam, knowing that that is the last place that John would ever want to go. Owen knows that John is contemplating a way to avoid the war, with graduate school ending, and so Owen is trying to find a way to help his friend. He knows that John truly would rather find a job using the degree he received that go to war.

This simple sentence shows how much Owen truly cares for John. He wants his friend to have the opportunity to live the life he wants and not have to go to war. Owen knows that he cannot change his ultimate fate, but he wants to find some way to change John's. He does not want to have his friend either die alongside him, or watch him die. He would rather have his friend live the life he wants to live, than live a life he hates, if it is possible for him to avoid it. Owen has compassion and shows that his friendship with John is so important to him. If he could change John's fate, he was going to try in every way possible, because that is the type of friend that Owen is.

This quote is also a life quote. If you find the one thing you love to do in life, you have to have the courage, the bravery to pursue it. Do not let anything stop you from doing the one thing in life you love. You have to find some way to live it. Nothing should get in the way of living the dream you want to live, even if it means doing something drastic to get there.