Oh. Ohoho. You thought? You thought I wasn't going to talk about the actual content of "Speaking of Courage"? My dear reader, how silly you are. Read on, read on, is all I have to say.
You will be pleased to know that the setting shifts from what has mostly taken place in Vietnam and O'Brien's consciousness to Iowa. Naturally there are flashbacks to Vietnam, but I enjoyed the change. I especially liked the poignancy and the close-to-homeness of this chapter.
What makes me feel special though, is that I do believe the author is implying a metaphor between the waste field and the lake in the town. The lake is stagnant, full of unwanted algae, empty of good fish, and overall sometimes not so pleasing to be around. Just as the lake is the "center" of the story in Iowa, so is the field of muck the center of the flashbacks to Vietnam.
and he takes a dip in the lake, clothes still on, like wearing fatigues in a waste field
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