After the War

     The short story "Notes" is my favorite short story in this novel because of how unique and honest it is. This short story is one of the few that do not take place in the war, but afterward. Bowker comes back from the war and fails to find a true purpose, which is how most veterans felt after the war. These men who fought in the Vietnam War skipped one of the most crucial parts of their lives as they were transitioning into adulthood. Some left when they were 18, right when their life in America was supposed to start, but they had to put it on hold to go to war.
     Bowker repetitively brings up how he "almost won the Silver Star for valor," but did not actually receive it. It seems as if Bowker is attempting to justify himself being in the war because the reality of the war being unnecessary is too hard to swallow. The most interesting part of this story is in one of the letters the Bowker wrote to O'Brien. He says that he does not know how to tell the story of Kiowa's death. That letter really got to me and stimulated me to think about how most of these veterans came back and could not even begin to explain the terror they experienced and all the pain they suffered, so they did not share these stories. Everyone else was able to move on, but not some of these men. The rest of America was able to move on and in doing that, they left these men to suffer, like Bowker.

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