Even Captain America has Survivor Guilt

"'The truth,' Norman Bowker would've said, 'is I let the guy go.'" (O'Brien 147).

Norman Bowker from The Things They Carried reminded me of Captain America in the way that they both suffer from survivor guilt.  Bowker and Captain America both tried to save their friend and both failed; leaving them to watch their friend die and ultimately blaming themselves for their friend’s death.  Bowker couldn't let go of the fact that he couldn't pull his friend Kiowa out of the waste.  He remembers himself thinking "not here...not like this" (O'Brien 143) which is exactly what Captain America was thinking when he watched his best friend Bucky fall from the train.  He tried to pull Bucky up, but the handle broke before Bucky could grab onto his hand. 

After the war, Bowker has a hard time adjusting to everyday life.  He wants to talk about the night Kiowa died, but he can't.  He can't explain his emotions so he spends most of his time driving around wondering what it would be like if he could talk about it.  While Bowker tends to dwell on the past, Captain America tries to take his mind off of the incident by focusing on the war so much that he forgets Bucky's death for a while.  He needs to get keep himself busy because he knows the guilt will eat him alive if he doesn't.