Characters
Who is the main character in Speaking of Courage and Notes?
Norman Bowker
How many medals did Norman win?
7
Who did Norman hear screaming one night while shots were being fired along the field?
Kiowa
Where is Norman's hometown?
Central Iowa
What did Norman hang himself with?
a jump rope
What was the name of the girl that Norman was friends with in high school?
Sally Kramer
What event/character did Norman believe was left out of O'Brien's story?
Kiowa and what had happened to him in the waste field one night.
Who shot at the mama-sans one night at the Song Tra Bong?
Jimmy Cross
What was the name of the park in Norman's Hometown?
Sunset Park
What was the title of O'Brien's first book?
If I Die in a Combat Zone
What is the name of Norman's friend who drowned in the lake after high school?
Max Arnold
How does Norman feel about what happened to Kiowa?
guilty; he believes that he is the one that let Kiowa go
What was the one thing Kiowa wanted after he had almost drowned in the mud and lost his weapon?
a bath
When Norman was in high school, who did he drive around the lake with?
Sally Kramer
Where did Norman hang himself?
The YMCA locker room in his hometown
Who received a letter form Norman about how he could not find a meaningful use of his life after war?
O'Brien
What almost kept Norman out of the war?
an ear infection
After receiving Norman's letter, O'Brien realized that the act of writing did what?
led him through a swirl of memories that might otherwise have ended in paralysis or worse
According to the author, what did the the road along the lake separate?
it was a boundary between the affluent and the most affluent
What was the town's first cause for existence?
it was a place for immigrant settlers to put down their loads
Who felt that telling stories seemed like a natural, inevitable process, like clearing the throat?
Tim O'Brien
Why did Norman almost win the silver star?
for valor
How is the way that Kiowa drowned in the waste field symbolic?
Kiowa was folded in with the war; he was part of the waste
What is on the lake side of the road?
a nice neighborhood with beautiful, expensive houses
When was Speaking of Courage written?
1975