Norman Bowker In Tim O Brien's The Things They Carried

According to Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, this fictional novel is a group of short stories that blended reality and fiction. Tim O’Brien’s storytelling evokes emotional responses from the audience, and it makes them empathise with the characters’ experience throughout the Vietnam War and after the war. In general, veterans who fought in the war change, and they experience disconnection with their friends and family after the war. Norman Bowker is a teenager who was drafted into the war, and he was one of the only good characters in this story. Through this character, we can see Norman Bowker change as the novel progresses and how war can affect people even when the war is over. During the war, each character carried things that provided them with a sense of comfort, and a way to distract them from the war. For example, Bowker carried a diary (3). Since he carried a dairy which most young girls used, it represents his feminine and thoughtful side. The dairy was an object that Bowker used to escape from reality. Bowker is a character that helps “O’Brien” the

During the war, he carried a diary that he used to escape from reality. This represented his feminine and thoughtful side. In the war, he learned to how to use guns to kill people. This is something that ordinary teenagers would do, so Bowker lost his innocent childhood as he goes through life and death situations. When Bowker returns home, he has to deal with his experience at the war, and he had to adjust to being a civilian. He tried to communicate with people, but they either ignored him or they just didn’t care about him. This made Bowker like an invisible person because he had no impact on other people. As the story progresses, he gave up communicating with people, so he let go. Bowker experience disconnection lead him to hang himself in a locker room of YMCA in his