Speaking of Courage

O'Brien examines courage and its opposite frequently in the novel. Many of the seemingly heroic actions taken in the story were not courageous, however. When the character O'Brien makes the decision to go to war, he claims it was the cowardly thing to do. This caused me to think of courage in a new way because I always thought it took a great deal of courage to go into battle. But it was cowardly to O'Brien because of his motives; he wasn't motivated by a desire to serve his country or be a part of something greater, he went because he didn't want to shame himself or his family. He saw this as cowardly because he gave into the pressures surrounding him instead of doing what he felt was best for him. Most all of the soldiers are the same way, doing brave things not because they are brave but because they are afraid of the shame that comes with not being brave. While speculating about the man he killed, he wrote about how that man, too, was only in the war because he felt he had to be, showing a commonality between different people, and how cowardice is universally a stronger impetus than courage. In the chapter entitled "Speaking of Courage," Norman Bowker believes his many medals of recognition were not for anything special, but just for getting through the everyday. That courage was not found in the big gestures and grand actions, but in doing the undesirable everyday necessities to make it to another one.