Norman Bowker

Norman Bowker was an important character as well. He kept a diary. The nights were cold, the monsoons pierced with dampness; he carried a polyethylene green poncho, which served as a cloak, litter and a tent, built in a hurry. Together with the quilted lining poncho pulled almost two pounds, but it was truly valuable every gram.

After returning home, Norman Bowker believes that it is difficult to adjust to life in normal mode. He is struggling to find meaning in his life after he was included in reverse order in Vietnam. He can’t keep working for more than ten weeks, he drops out of junior college and plays basketball all day long. Bowker can’t find a way to fit back into his old life, and no one seems to understand or know how to help him, even his parents.

Bowker expresses his disappointment that he doesn’t need to complain: he lived, he got home, again in safety and security. Nevertheless, he can’t get a job, he doesn’t feel normal, and he can’t understand it. Many soldiers return home and suddenly want them to return to the war, where life is actually much easier. After reading his letter, O'Brien feels guilty that he never experienced the ghosts that exhausted Bowker and others but then realizes that he found a kind of catharsis in his letter. His letter allows him to express his guilt for mistakes and choices, and of what he has seen.

An important symbol of Bowker is the field where Kiowa dies. In the most pleasant conditions, this is a field full of marsh waste: a "village toilet." Norman Bowker talks about going to the screaming Kiowa, but when he gets to him, he's already under mischief. Bowker says that he could win the Silver Star, but the mistake was in the smell.