"The Things They Carried"- Sydney Derrow 3

Analyze a character in your story. How are they characterized by the author? What's their role in the story? What do you think of them? Why?

In the chapter, Notes, Norman Bowker was introduced. "'Speaking of Courage" was written in 1975 at the suggestion of Norman Bowker, who three years later hanged himself in the locker room of the YMCA in his hometown in central Iowa" (O'Brien 149). Bowker was in Nam with O'Brien. He seemed to have depression because on page 149, O'Brien explained that Bowker had several jobs when he returned but none of them lasted for more than 10 weeks. He lived with his parents and played basketball.He drank heavily and drove around. "..and then at night he drove around town in his father's car, mostly alone, or with a six pack of beer, cruising"(O'Brien 150). Norman had a letter of some sort that O'Brien had access to. Bowker wrote, "There's no place to go, not just in this lousy town. In general. My life, I mean. It's almost like i got killed over in Nam.... Feels like I'm still in deep shit"(O'Brien 150). The letter jumped from self-pity, to anger, to irony, to guilt, to a kind of indifference. I feel Bowker's role in this chapter showed how much the war affected the soldiers. Bowker was tough, like everyone, but when Kiowa died, that's all he can think about. Bowker talked about how they weren't paraded when they returned and it's not like they wanted to kill anyone. I think highly of Bowker. He did what he had to do, saw some knarly stuff he didn't want to witness, and it took a huge toll on him. It's just sad how he thought his only option was suicide.
-Sydney Derrow