We all have seen those kids that look lost within themselves. They are the ones who don’t have anywhere to sit at lunch, no one to say hi to in the halls, and feel like they have no one to turn to when they need help. In “Speaking of Courage” and “Notes” written by O’Brien, it becomes clear that this isn’t just something that you’d see at school. Some of the most highly respected, brave men and women in the world come home feeling trapped and lost in their life. These people could be living right down the street from you; you might see them everyday and you wouldn’t even know it.

 The Things O’Brien Carries

 Interestingly, “Notes” is an epilogue to “ Speaking of Courage”, a story written in the third person perspective that emphasizes the struggles a Vietnam veteran goes through. While “Speaking of Courage” is written from the outside looking in,  “Notes” writes in the first person, personalizing the story to O’brien for a short few pages. In this, we read about the hardships veterans face when they return from war: it is obvious that O’brien is one of these veterans who pays tribute to his fallen comrades, Kiowa and Bowker. No highschool kid like me, or most people for that matter, will be able to relate or fully comprehend the true nature of war. To do his best to reach the reader, O’brien includes snippets of Bowker’s 17 page cry of distress, and talks about how he himself uses his writing to objectify his war experience and separate it from who he is now. In these four pages, there is so much content, so much to think about and a surplus of ideas to register. Overall, the effect of “Notes” is that it leaves the reader enlightened on situations like Bowker’s and taken unaware in it’s closeness to O’brien.

 All about the Moral

Overall, my appreciation doesn’t really change for the story when I find out what parts of the story are true, and what parts of the story O’brien puts a spin on. Even though O’brien adds in scenery and minor details that come from his hometown and not Bowker’s story, it doesn’t change the message and what O’brien wants us to really understand. The moral, or main idea is that Bowker is in distress, and can’t seem to find a purpose in his life anymore. After the war, Bowker is traumatized and feels different than the other people in his town; he can not relate with them anymore and vice versa. For example, on page 152 of the chapter “Notes”, O’brien talks about the origin of the story and says, “ For the scenery I borrowed heavily from my own hometown.”(O’brien, 152). Even though this isn’t precise on what really happened, it still represents the big idea. Earlier in the paragraph, it also says, “ I collapsed events into a single time and

importance of moral

place, a car circling a lake on a quiet afternoon in midsummer, using a lake as a nucleus around which the story would orbit.”(Obrien, 152.) Here it is still obvious that the circling represents the feeling of being stuck in life, the main image that Bowker presents of himself.

Now that you have read about the stories of two Vietnam veterans, Tim O’brien and Norman Bowker, think about how you can help out those in need. Norman’s letter to O’brien was a call for help, and there are people all around the world, whether that be at school or at work, who need someone to lean on. Go out and be the best person that you can be; a colleague’s attitude or appearance doesn’t mean that they don’t have their own battles.