Vietnam War In The Things They Carry, By Tim O Brien

Most people don’t know much about what exactly happened in the Vietnam War. Should this war have even happened? Many Americans believe this war was unnecessary for the armed forces to participate in, especially because of the damage caused in WWII. Tim O'Brien's novel, The Things They carry, offers a collection of short stories in which each expresses the different Vietnam experiences. Every story in this novel was impressive for its own unique reason. However, my favorite was the last story, “Speaking of Courage” This story takes place in the state of Iowa, describing Norman Bowker’s return home from the war. Kiowa’s death was heartbreaking to all of the members in the unit but especially with Bowker, they developed a strong bond in Vietnam.

In this story O’Brien showed the effects war can have on a soldier after they’ve served. Just like the first chapter, this chapter is also told in third person, “O’Brien” is largely absent from this chapter. Once Norman returned home all he could ever think and talk about was his experiences from the war, he became a part of Vietnam. When Norman returns home he starts driving his father’s Chevy pickup around the lake, doing circles. All his thoughts consisted of the same thing, past people in his life and how they seemed to change. Bowker had become stuck in time, not being able to move forward from the war. When he spoke to his father, the only subject he seem capable to discuss was the war. Norman brought something home from the war which many soldiers do, guilt. Bowker had to resolve the conflict between fear and courage. The Silver Star, is an ultimate honorable award for a soldier, which Norman desperately wanted to win. If he’d saved Kiowa’s life he’d accomplish his goal. The guilt will forever be ingrained in Bowker, he honestly believed he

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. O’Brien makes it understable to the readers that Bowker died in Vietnam and has no chance of recovering, he can’t seem to find meaning of life after the war. O’Brien’s main purpose of writing “Speaking of courage” was mainly to try and explain what soldiers had to deal with once they returned home from war, and not only how to deal with being disconnected from society, but also from their loved ones. After returning from