The motif I chose to explore is within the passage “Speaking of Courage.” This section of The Things They Carried focuses on a character named Norman Bowker. The section takes place after the Vietnam War and Bowker is reflecting on some parts of the war as well as his hometown in Iowa that he has returned to. For most of the scene, Bowker drives his father’s old Chevy on a tar road looped around the river. Bowker reminisces about various things such as his high school girlfriend and what his father would feel about his awards that he achieved through the war. Bowker’s wandering thoughts eventually settle on the night a fellow soldier, Kiowa, died in an unfortunate combination of a bad camp set-up and acid rain. Bowker tried to grab onto Kiowa,
