"Speaking of Courage" speaks of courage in that Norman Bowker thinks that he could not do the brave thing.I remember when we first started to read this book we took a survey that asked if doing the brave thing is the hard thing. As Norman Bowker circled around the lake reminiscing on his sh*t story he thought about how the rain never stopped and the fields continued to fill up. He talked about how the cold worked into your bones, and how sometimes the bravest thing was to sit through the night anf feel the cold in your bones. Courage was not always a matter of yes or no. Sometimes it came in degrees; sometimes you were very brave up to a point and then beyond that point you were not so brave. Norman said that sometimes, like the night in the sh*t field, the difference between courage and cowardice was something small and stupid. That night in the sh*t field when Kiowa died norman thought that he had been braver than he ever thought possible, but that he had not been so brave as he wanted to be.
At the very beginning of the book they talk about everything the soldiers have to carry physically and emotionally. One of the things they carry was courage. Jimmy carried courage because he knew that Martha didn't love him. All the soldiers carry courage in that they hide their fears, being afraid of what the war provides. They continue to do what they have to. Another incident where courage vs cowardice appears in the story is in the chapter On The Rainy River. This is the chapter in which Tim O'Brien the narrator tells the story of when he was first drafted into the war. he tells of his experience on the rainy river having to chose between crossing the border and going to Canada or staying and becoming a soldier. According to him the courageous thing to do was leave, go to Canada never look back and just be embarrased my his community etc. But he chose to go to war and that was the cowardice thing.
To me throughout the story O'Brien's portrayal of what courageous is varies. it depends on the person and the situation. In the case of Norman Bowker he thought that he did the brave thing by trying to save kiowa. But in the case of Tim himself he thought that courageous thing to do was the hard thing for him. So i guess Tim thinks that courage is the hard decision.
