Chapter/Story #15: Notes

This story further emphasizes how Norman Bowker struggled to find meaning in his post-war life. That is probably the reason that led to his decision to hang himself. Bowker states that he feels like he sank down into the sewage with Kiowa and this reveals that he does feel some guilt about letting Kiowa's boot go. I felt like he was contradicting himself when he talks about war veterans crying and whining because it seemed like he was doing the same exact thing but I can understand why. Writing helped Tim O' Brien cope with the transition from peace to war without him knowing so at first. His ability to link some of these made up stories with true experiences is incredible. That's hard to do. He explains his technique behind it: "You start sometimes with an incident that truly happened...and you carry it forward by inventing incidents that did not in fact occur but that nonetheless help to clarify and explain". I might have to start using this technique in the future. I found it ironic that Bowker hanged himself eight months after writing O' Brien stating that his story was not terrible but he left out Vietnam and the shit in the field. That story may have added to the misery of his life. I think he would be proud of the revised story, I know I enjoyed it. Also, I found it interesting that the experience of Norman Bowker and the death of Kiowa in the shit field is actually Tim O' Brien's. A reader definitely would be able to tell unless he told them. I didn't know until the end of this blog.