What is courage?
The word can go by a few definitions..."the ability to do something that frightens ones", "strength in the face of pain or grief", or "the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery" (taken from various dictionary sites).
This isn't the first time something of the sort has appeared in one of the narrator's stories. The idea of "courage" and "bravery" is a reoccurring concept within The Things They Carried. To me, in this particular chapter I don't think that Norman Bowker shows any type of courage. Courage would be to speak out to those you imagine having conversations with...to try and remain a part of society.
I know that something such as the Vietnam War is a trauma-inducing event; however, I think that one could at least try to be apart of the society. Maybe my viewpoint isn't valid since I, myself, have never experienced something like PTSD, but I just find it as an excuse. Norman Bowker is not courageous at all to me. Winning a medal doesn't show bravery...feeling guilty about the death of a friend doesn't show courage either...it's admitting your problems that, to me, seems to take more effort.
Times like these have happened in O'Brien's story before where I debate on the fine line between "cowardice" and "bravery". The chapter "On the Rainy River" is a prime example of where O'Brien explores the two concepts. Here, we see that the narrator struggles to come to terms with the feelings within him. He's torn between whether he wants to go to war and die for his country or run away. To me, both of those situations would require a large amount of bravery: going to war is a heavy decision...run away is too, and even though the act is cowardly, don't you think that's what makes it a harder choice? Running away from something like war isn't as easy as people may think it is...sometimes it takes a bit of courage to do what others think is the "wrong" thing to do.
Or think about it like this; isn't this whole book an example of "courage"? Wouldn't it take a lot of bravery to write about events that may disturb you or trigger unwanted feelings that you haven't had since the event happened? I know that a lot of the details and situations O'Brien puts into The Things They Carried are fake, but not all of them are.
