Chapter 15 Summary

Norman Bowker spends a lot of time driving around his town now that the war is over and he is home. It is a typical town, with modern houses and barbecue grills, and there is a popular lake where residents of the town enjoy spending their time during the summer. Before the war, he used to drive around the lake with his girlfriend Sally Kramer, and he'd swam in it with his friend Max Arnold, who liked to debate ideas and who had, in fact, drowned in the lake.

Now, Sally is married, Max is dead, and he is left driving aimlessly around the lake. He imagines a story he might have told his father, if his father were not so involved in watching a baseball game on television. It is a story of how he believes he almost won the Silver Star...