How does Tim O'brien represent courage in this story?

In the story speaking of courage, Tim O'brien chooses the character Norman Bowker to represent this subject. He goes back home from the war just so wiped out and has missed so much while he was gone. The medals that he receives has a lot to do with Norman's courage. He knew he would make his father so proud and impress him by earning these medals but in his own personal thoughts and reality he did not feel excitement nor courage about these medals but more cowardliness. He just felt like the rest of the soldier, nothing special. In the book, the lake is described in an interesting way. Whenever Norman saw the lake it reminded him of war and marching around the lake in circles. Another thing said was how one half of the lake glistened while the other half was a shadow. I believe that the glistening half represented courage and the other half represented the cowardliness. This is how in the story "Speaking of Courage" Tim O'brien talks about courage.