How Does Tim O Brien Use Literary Techniques In Speaking Of Courage

Readers always hope that incredible stories they read about have some truth to them. Tim O’Brien writes of a lonely soldier named Norman in his short stories “Speaking of Courage” and “Notes.” O’Brien digs at reader's emotions using different postmodern writing techniques to make Norman’s story seem believable, even though it is completely fiction. The themes in Norman Bowker’s story in “Speaking of Courage” make it a prime example of a postmodern story. 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 wants to tell someone about how he almost won the Silver Star during his time of service in Vietnam, but he thinks no one wants to hear his stories and he has no one to talk to, so during this story he indirectly tells the reader his story while imagining himself telling his father or former girlfriend his story. As previously mentioned, since he couldn’t save Kiowa, he doesn’t feel brave. While he is the central character of “Speaking of Courage,” he doesn’t fall into a category of either antagonist or protagonist for those