10. Life Goes On

Norman Bowker struggles to accept the fact that life simply goes on. While he was busy protecting his own life in Vietnam, the people of his town continued to work, play, and grow older. This situation reminds me of the movie Cast Away with Tom Hanks. After being stranded on an island for four years he returns from the dead to find his long time girlfriend married. Just like Bowker’s situation, nothing ever stops the world from revolving. Like the war in Iraq today, since it has no direct effect on us here, we never stop to truly pay attention to it. It is a part of our every day life, only subconsciously, hidden in the background. When Hanks returned to the states in Cast Away, he lost his ability to interact with others. I see this same characteristic with Bowker. He wants to tell his story, but he thinks no one will understand. So he continues in circles, in isolation. He refuses to interrupt his dad’s baseball game, and he will not even share his story with the guy at A&W who even asks twice for Norman to talk to him. Circles. Never ending.