Norman Bowker was a very introverted person but he wanted to tell others around him about his experience in the war. He did not have enough courage to go and speak with Sally Gustafson or his own father because he knew they did not want to hear his truth; they wanted the generic version. They would probably act interested but in reality they would not want the full story with the actual details. For example, when Norman played out how a conversation with Sally would go she immediately felt uncomfortable with how he told his story. As a result of him using profanity, Sally probably would have regretted agreeing to letting him tell her about him almost receiving the Silver Star. A "poop" field was what he knew it to be; he could not describe
