"[Norman] could not talk about it and never would. The evening was smooth and warm. If it had been possible, which it wasn't, he would have explained how his friend Kiowa slipped away that night beneath the dark swampy field. He was folded in with the war; he was part of the waste."
-(Speaking of Courage.123-124)
He wants to talk about what happened back in Vietnam but is unable to. A character in the book 'The things they carried' by Tim O'Brien, Norman Bowker was a man who embodies the damage that the war can do to a soldier long after the war is over. Through this artist book, the reader is allowed to experience what could be the diary of Norman Bowker; heavy, cold, damaged, stained and lacking words. It portrays the increasing guilt that ultimately led to his death.
