Eight months after Bowker sent his reaction to the story to O’Brien, he hanged himself. In August of 1978, O’Brien received a note from Bowker’s mother explaining the suicide. Bowker had played a game of basketball at the YMCA. He left the game for some water, and hanged himself with a jump rope from a water pipe.

What happens to Norman Bowker in the end?

O’Brien says that “Speaking of Courage” was written at the request of Norman Bowker who, three years after the story was written, hanged himself in the YMCA .

What chapter did Norman Bowker die?

In the chapter titled ‘Notes’, the narrator reflects on his friend Norman Bowker’s difficulty in transitioning to post-war life after Vietnam, his suicide, and the impact of this event on his writing.