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Speaking Of Courage Short Story Quotes

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"Speaking of Courage" written by Tim O'Brian does a fantastic job at providing examples of both story truth and happening truth. O'Brian writes this vignette in such a way that one might disagree whether it is happening or story truth; this literary analysis will further explain the words that Tim writes about, and how they impact his theme, or facts, of the story.
"The war was over and there was no place in particular to go" (131). The first line that readers will read is the above quote. The quote that O'Brian states is a very powerful quote because he is talking about Norman Bowker, the protagonist of this vignette, and is telling the readers that Norman literally has nowhere to go. So in other words, Norman has returned home from the war, and has nothing to do and no one to talk to. Right from the beginning of the vignette, readers notice that Norman is solo and has nothing to do. This opening sentence is an example of story truth because Tim is trying to get the point across that Norman has …show more content…

Readers can infer from this statement made by O'Brian that Norman is on a never ending circle. Some readers might suggest that Tim is talking about the circle of life, and that him driving around the lake is him wanting to start his life over again. This is wrong. Norman drives around the lake so many times, and is constantly starting over. Tim is trying to get the point across that even after war, a veteran might still find it difficult to connect to people or get over the war. Readers find out later on in the vignette that Bowker feels as if he is responsible for Kiowa's death. He is unable to get over this death, and that is why he keeps circling the lake so many times; his pain is a never ending circle—no one is ever going to understand what he saw and why he did not win the Silver Star

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