In "On The Rainy River," we learn the 21-year-old O'Brien's theory of courage: "Courage, I seemed to think, comes to us in finite quantities, like an inheritance, and by being frugal and stashing it away and letting it earn interest, we steadily increase our moral capital in preparation for that day when the account must be drawn down. It was a comforting theory." Later in "Speaking of Courage", Norman Bowker learns that sometimes "the difference between courage and cowardice was something small and stupid." Using one of these explanations of courage examine how three of the characters either possess or lack courage.