When he was in Vietnam, he and his fellows soldiers were set up in a field by a river. Due to the hard rain, the field turned into mud and someone realized that the field they were camped out at the village toilet. As the night went on, things got worse for the soldiers and eventually, Norman’s friend, Kiowa, was trapped by the mud, sunk down into it, and Norman couldn’t save Kiowa. This experience caused Norman to feel detached from the world, making him unable to adjust to civilian life and his misfortune is followed up on in “Notes.” It also makes him insecure in the way that he doesn’t feel brave or courageous when he wasn’t able to save his friend because, ultimately, he was powerless in that situation.
Norman had felt as if he had no one to talk to or relate to because no one around him had experienced war like he had. He tried to keep jobs when he was home from war, but not one of them had lasted more than 3 weeks. Since he feels he is unable to speak to anyone about war, he writes a letter to O’Brien, telling his entire war story. He soon feels as if he cannot do anything without thinking about war and hangs himself in the locker room of his town’s YMCA.
When his father, also a war veteran asked him about his war experience, Norman wanted to tell his brave story of saving a life and winning a Silver Star. After completing his eleventh circle around the lake, an inner thought appeared in his head, he imagines telling his father the truth about what happened “I let Kiowa go.” His father’s response was completely unaccepted, he still praised his son on seven other medals. This shows that his father missed the entire purpose of the story, which is his son's desperate sense of guilt. This story also contained major symbolism, the more times Bowker circled around the lake the more the thought of his never ending guilt for letting his war buddy Kiowa, die in the war.
In “The Last True Story I’ll Ever Tell”, John Crawford shows how war can drastically change soldiers by having psychological effects on them and when soldiers come back from war they can feel like they are alone. Some psychological effects are post-traumatic stress disorder, also known as PTSD, depression,
Norman could’ve easily saved his friend, but failed when he couldn’t handle the environment. He continues to blame the environment, and this blame would eventually drive Norman to the point of insanity. Norman did try to cope with the loss of his friend, but he only made his condition worse. He tried talking to other people, but no one cared to listen to him and ignored him. At this point, Norman made fake conversations in his head to comfort himself when no one else would in attempts to cope.
Prisoners of war held by the Japanese during World War II are particularly susceptible to this disorder due to the severe mistreatment and traumatic experiences they encountered. PTSD can ruin the lives of afflicted POWs. During World War II, soldiers held captive by the Japanese were treated with nothing short of brutality. Japan’s treatment of their POWs was abominable, and many POWs died because of it. In the study, Persistence of traumatic memories in World War II prisoners of war by Lance Rintamaki, the author reveals that approximately 37% of POWs held by the Japanese were killed, compared to less than 1% that were held
In the novel, The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien, a character by the name of Norman Bowker becomes suicidal, and can not successfully return back to his “normal life” after experiencing the traumatizing death of Kiowa. PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder, is a disorder in when a person can’t overcome a traumatizing event that has happened in his or her life. It can lead to nightmares of the event, lack of concentration, and a lack of sleep. It can also lead to suicidal thoughts, depression, anxiety, and other mental disorders. People suffering from PTSD can have a higher risk of suicide or self harm, as depicted in the novel.
He was barbarized by the war and hence he was unable to integrate himself back into society. He no longer had any humanity to try to be a member of society because the war deprived him of any civil interactions. Norman Bowker did not have a life outside of the war. Before he took his life, Bowker wrote to O’Brien stating how he felt back in the United States, “‘The thing is,’ he wrote, ‘there’s no place to go. Not just in this lousy little town.
Norman Bowker was a solder that suffered from severe survivor’s guilt from his time during the
In the chapter Speaking of Courage, the narrator explains how Norman tries to save Kiowa, “He would've talked about this, and how he grabbed Kiowa by the boot and tried to pull him out. He pulled hard but Kiowa was gone, and then suddenly he felt himself going, too.” (page 143). Norman lived with this for the rest of his life, playing what he could've done to save him over and over again in his head. Another example is in the chapter,
Norman attended White Pine Bay High School, but then dropped out and was homeschooled by his mother around the age of 18. Around the age of 22, Norman developed other personality called “Mother”. She had emerged fully and slowly started to take over Norman’s life, specifically after the death of his mother. No one seemed to know why Norman was acting like this; therefore he did not have much support to get help with his disorder.
The loss of innocence and gain of war trauma affects almost every soldier in the war either during or after the war. Which is seen through the killing of Kiowa and the death throughout the chapters. O'Brien had tried to show Kiowa a picture at night with and turned a flashlight on and
In the story, there are many different behaviors that make it clear to the reader that Norman is unable to get past the war and the trauma surrounding it. These behaviors include continuing to drive around a lake being stuck in a specific path, making up conversations he might have with his dad about the war, and convincing himself that normal occurrences must be effects of the war. One day while Norman is driving, he passes through a town. He describes it as, “A tour bus feeling, in a way, except the town he was touring seemed dead. Through the windows, as if in a stop-motion photograph, the place looked as if it had been hit by nerve gas, everything still and lifeless, even the people” (143).
One event that seems to haunt him constantly is the death of his friend Kiowa. Years after the war, Norman continues to struggle with the images and atrocities of war. He even reaches out to O'Brien in a letter exclaiming, “the thing is,’ he wrote, ‘there’s no place to go. Not just in this lousy little town. In general.
According to the American Psychiatric Association DSM-V, PTSD can stem from a direct experience with a traumatic event or being a witness to traumatic events. Symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder are derived from four symptom clusters: intrusion, avoidance, negative alterations in mood, and negative alterations is arousal and reactivity (“Posttraumatic Stress Disorder”). Symptoms of “intrusion” are characterized by recurrent, involuntary memories, nightmares, or flashbacks with or without stimuli. In The Things They Carried, Kiowa, a soldier in Lt. Cross’ platoon, regularly recounts the events leading up to the death of Ted Lavender.
