Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Speaking of Courage

The chapter,  Speaking of Courage, described  Norman Bowker as a timid man. Whenever he has the urge or need to say what's on his mind, he forbids to speak it aloud; to anyone. This story related to another story called, Perks of Being a Wallflower.  The main character, Charlie, is a boy who tries to start off on a right note in high school, but he is going to need to give himself a good boost because he does not like the feeling of being alone.
      Norman starts off the story by driving around a lake in his fathers neighborhood, thinking of his past. As he is driving, he thinks about somewhat morose things such as Max Arnold, who drowned in that lake and also thinks of his high school girlfriend Sally, who is now married. Also Norman mentions the death of Kiowa, who was left being in a sewage mud pit. Norman was there and could've helped him, but he couldn't stand the stench so he left him behind. Ever since, Norman has felt a bit of guilt for leaving man behind for something somewhat selfish. In the beginning of the story, Norman is mostly thinking of his father, and what pragmatic approach his father expects of him to come home and receive these medals. Norman lists all the seven medals that he won to his father, but one that Norman really wanted to mention was the Silver Star, and how he almost got it. Norman than remembered how is father never seemed to care what Norman had in mind, the television seemed more important to him especially the baseball game that night. To me, that results the way Norman has the lack of confidence to speak up.
      In Perks of Being a Wallflower, Charlie is a fifteen year old boy who starting off high school and wants to make a good mark of the year. Recently in the story, his friend had just committed suicide, which relates to also the death of Max Arnold who was Norman's friend. However, Charlie feels alone ever since the incident occurred and can't figure out a way to open himself up. He especially cannot afford to start of his high school year as a "no-body". Sadly, that is how it begins, he feels that no one notices him or even wants to make word with him; he feels alone.
         In these two stories, courage is eventually established in these characters own ways. Norman and Charlie share a death experience that affected them and their ways to elaborate themselves. Norman seems to mention a few of the phrases repetitively, "...would've said..."" ...could've said..." and "...couldn't say...". Norman seems to show hesitant when he uses these phrases, and seems as if he is a coward. However, this seems to be the reason he blames himself for not even trying, because he feels that no one would mind. Now, Charlie is also hesitant because he wants to make sure to take the right step. Charlie learns how to adapt into a friendship with people and does it! He meets his two new closest friends, Sam and Patrick, who show Charlie their ways of bold and fearless characteristics.
      As this chapter ends, we notice the very first sentence in the following chapter, Notes, that Norman Bowker hung himself with a jump-rope tied to a water pipe. Reading that shocked me and made it seem implausible to realize, but it showed how much it really got to Norman's mind and took charge in his actions.
Valentine, Aoife. Film Review: Perks of Being a Wallflower. Digital image. The University Observer. N.p., 2 Oct. 2012. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.

15 comments:

  1. Great job Cecile! I found it very interesting how this book was actually written in letter form and Norman Bowker writes a letter to O'brien. You did a great job comparing the two. Both Charlie and Bowker write letters to try and answer their problems.
    Awesome job!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Perks of being a wallflower was such a great movie. You did a fantastic job relating the two, who would have thought?!?! Bravo

    ReplyDelete
  3. I loved your connection to Perks of Being a Wallflower. That was a fabulous movie! It was great that you were able to compare this war story with such a current and popular movie. Also, your analysis of both stories was fantastic. Great job on this post!

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is one of my favorite posts. I love this movie, and you did a really good job connecting it with the chapter. Both of the characters have so many ways in which they can relate to one another. Great job, Cecile!

    ReplyDelete
  5. This post inspires me to go out and watch this movie. Great post. Great comparison. Keep up the good work!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I really like how you went further than just relating the characters on the idea that both had someone die that they were close to and now they have to overcome it. You also talked about how over time they both gain the courage to move on and how they did this. Really good job!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Good job, Cecile. I like how you mentioned several phrases that Bowker seems to repeat throughout the chapter. For me, these show his opinion on his war experience in that he feels he had many missed opportunities. He didn't save Kiowa's life, for example. Bowker blames himself for Kiowa's death and, as you stated, is hesitant to discuss with anyone what his war experience was like because he just can't find the words to say it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This was a great movie, and I did not think about this connection until you made it. Both Bowker and Charlie have many similar attributes, and although Charlie is able to overcome his depression, they both suffer through similar difficulties. They both don't know how to feel accepted or what to do. Great Post!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Good job, Cecile! I loved how you related this chapter to Perks of Being a Wallflower because as I was reading this chapter I kept getting this really sad feeling, and I didn't know why. Your connection helped me realize that while the chapter seems innocent, as he is just driving around, there is so much going on under the surface, like there was with Charlie.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love how you connect this chapter to Perks of Being a Wallflower! This makes the chapter more personal (since most people who have seen the movie can relate to it in some way) and more interesting.I actually never realized how Perks of Being a Wallflower is similar to "Speaking of Courage." Great job, I really enjoyed reading your blog post!(:

    ReplyDelete
  11. Great job! Although the end results of Norman and Charlie, from Perks of Being a Wallflower, were very different, the two characters go about the same way to help overcome their morose feelings. I have never seen this movie, but I really want to now! Awesome job!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I loved this post, after reading "Speaking of Courage", I actually was reminded of the Perks of Being a Wallflower too. The way that Norman and Charlie feel is very similar and both characters have dealt with so much emotionally. I was so happy that you wrote about this connection.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Great comparison Cecile! The way that you connected the movie and the book was amazing. After watching the trailer for the movie I was able to make many connections to the book. However I bet that if I were to see the whole movie I would be able to make many more connections.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Great blog post Cecile! I really love this movie and I like how you compared Speaking of Courage to The Perks of Being A Wallflower, a really popular movie. You made a lot of great comparisons and connections between these two stories. Good job!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Great connection Cecile! That movie was quite a good one and you did a great job of drawing out the similarities and differences between it and the The Things They Carried. I also liked your analysis on the repetitiveness of the words or phrases that Norman Bowker uses throughout the story. Great job!

    ReplyDelete