The Notes section in Tim O’Brien’s book, The Things They Carried helps to develop a deeper meaning. It makes the chapter “Speaking of Courage” much more meaningful and it is no longer just another chapter in the book. 

Tim O’Brien starts the chapter off with “‘Speaking of Courage’ was written in 1975 at the suggestion of Norman Bowker, who three years later hanged himself in the locker room of a YMCA in his hometown in central Iowa.” (O’Brien 149) This is a very abrupt way to start the analysis portion of a chapter. In the last chapter we saw that Norman was slowly starting to become acclimated to civilization and his hometown and now we find out that he is dead. It almost puts the reader in a sense of shock.

This really makes me think about the rest of the book as a whole. This is just one section where he elaborates and tells the true story and meaning behind what he wrote. The rest of the book must be similar to this and must be all based off of what had happened to him and what some of the impacts were that Vietnam left on him. 

I was also really shocked when I heard some of the jobs that Norman had worked after coming home from Vietnam. It said that he lived with his parents and “ He had worked briefly as an automotive parts salesman, a janitor, a car wash attendant, and a short-order cook at the local A&W fast-food franchise. None of these jobs, he said, had lasted more than ten weeks.” (O’Brien 149) This is really an issue for a lot of veterans because when they leave to fight they are often very young and when they come back they are sort of left behind. They do not get a great education and it is difficult for them to support themselves. I am glad that Tim included this because it shows how this war can really affect you a lot even though you get back home and are safe.

Another part that I also found that was very interesting was when Norman wrote, “‘The thing is,’ he wrote, ‘there’s no place to go. Not just in this lousy little town. In general. My life, I mean. It’s almost like I got killed over in Nam . . . Hard to describe. That night when Kiowa got wasted, I sort of sank down in’” (O’Brien 150) This is yet another example from Norman himself that he really did struggle when he came back. He kept on thinking about the past and all of the different things that he could have done to save Kiowa. He has a lot of regrets and that is an issue that Tim really wanted to highlight.

Ultimately, Tim O’Brien added this chapter to point out to main issues that returning veterans have to face. These two main issues are thinking about the past and the things that they could have done differently in the war and also finding a stable job and education. He was able to use Norman’s story to exemplify these struggles.