THE THINGS THEY CARRIED by Tim O’Brien
Activities:
Students are placed in groups of:
PERIOD 1: 8 groups of 2
PERIOD 2: 6 groups of 2, all others individual
PERIOD 6: 8 groups of 2, 1 individual
Students are assigned one or more stories from the Things They Carried
Groups (150 points)
Ø All students read short story(ies)
Ø One student creates summary of events (be prepared to explain story to the class)
Ø One student creates character chart and a list of vocabulary words or terms from each chapter
Ø One student writes a well-written paragraph explaining a theme and supporting this with details form the story (ies)
Ø All students complete group activity
Ø Students present summary, character chart, theme(s), and vocabulary to the class
o Presentations:
§ Oral presentation
§ Visual representation (outline, plot summary chart, character chart, etc.) via power point or poster board
Groups are determined based on the number of students in the class
Group 1: The Things They Carried (pgs. 1-26)
Group 2: On the Rainy River (pgs. 39-61)
Group 3: Enemies, Friends, How to Tell a True War Story (pgs. 62-85)
Group 4: Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong (pgs.89-116)
Group 5: Stockings, Church, The Man I Killed, Ambush, Style (pgs. 117-136)
Group 6: Speaking of Courage, Notes (pgs. 137-161)
Group 7: In the Field, Good Form, Field Trip (pgs. 162-188)
Group 8: The Ghost Soldiers (pgs. 189-218)
Group 9: Night Life, The Lives of the Dead (pgs. 219-246)
Culminating Activity MUST BE COMPLETED BY EACH STUDENT
RAFT – Descriptive Writing (100 points)
Role: A character from your short story,
Audience: Another character in your short story(ies)
Format: Letter
Topic: Explain to the person you are writing to why you behaved the way you did in the incident described in your story(ies)
Include:
Your characteristics
Background info
“Odd” behaviors
What happened
Format for a Friendly or Personal Letter
THINGS THEY CARRIED
CHARACTER LIST
Lieutenant Jimmy Cross
Mitchell Sanders
Kiowa
Norman Bowker
Henry Dobbins
Bob “Rat” Kiley
Curt Lemon
Ted Lavender
Lee Strunk
Dave Jensen
Azar
Bobby Jorgenson
Elroy Berdahl
Kathleen
Mary Anne Bell
Mark Fossie
Linda
Character Chart
(quote or paraphrase & pg. #)
SUMMARY
Subtitle: ______
Characters: ______
Events: List form or paragraph form
______
______
THEME
Theme
/Supporting Evidence with page numbers for reference (at least 3 examples)
Directions: Answer each of the following questions
Things They Carried
1. What items does Lt. Cross carry in his rucksack? Who are these items from? What is Lt. Cross’ relationship with this person?
2. List some of the “necessary” items that the men of the company carried”.
3. Besides the necessary items, what additional items do the following men carry?
Ted Lavender
Dave Jensen
Rat Kiley
Mitchell Sanders
Kiowa
4. On page 16, why does the narrator say that Jimmy Cross felt shame for Ted Lavender’s death?
5. What realization does Lt. Cross make about his relationship with Martha on Pg. 17?
6. What does the narrator mean on pg. 21 when he says: “grief, terror, love, longing – these were intangibles, but intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight”?
How can something that cannot be seen or touched – like grief, love, or longing carry weight?
7. According to the narrator, what is a soldier’s greatest fear? Why do many soldiers kill others or die during a war?
8. What does Lt. Cross do on the morning after Ted Lavender’s death?
9. Why do you think Lt. Cross burns Martha’s letters nad photos? How does he change after he burns them? Is this change good? Explain.
Directions: Answer each of the following questions
On the Rainy River
1. List at least two details that the narrator provides about Elroy Berdhal.
2. During what year does the story take place? How old is the narrator at this time?
3. List two questions that trouble the narrator about the nature of the war on pg. 40?
4. Find two pieces of evidence that suggest that the narrator would not be a good soldier.
5. On pg. 41, why does the narrator feel that he is “too good”
6. What details about Elroy Berdhal does the author state which suggest that Elroy might know what the narrator is up to?
7. What physical symptoms does the narrator exhibit that show his anxiety and depression?
8. What nightmares run through the narrator’s mind as he lies awake at night?
9. Ultimately, what decision does the narrator make about going to war? Why does he say he makes this decision?
Directions: Answer each of the following questions
Enemies
1. What was the supposed cuase of Lee Strunck and Dave Jensen’s fistfight?
2. What happens to Lee Strunck’s nose?
3. Mentally, what happens to Dvae Jensen after the fight?
Friends
1. Describe the pact Lee Strunck and Dave Jensen made with each other?
2. What happened to Lee and how did Dave respond?
3. Reread the last line of this story on pg. 66. Explain what this line means.
How To Tell a True War Story
1. Why and to whom does Rat write a letter?
2. What does a war story not do? What does a war story do?
3. Describe what happened to Curt Lemon?
4. After Rat tells his story, on pg. 85, the narrator says, “it wasn’t a war story. It was a love story”. Explain what he means by this.
Directions: Answer each of the following questions
Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong
1. What type of a reputation does Rat Kiley have among the members of Alpha Company?
2. Who ar the Greenies? How does the narrator describe them?
3. Identify at least two qualities the narrator illustrates about Mary Anne Bell.
4. How does Mary Anne’s demeanor change after she arrives in Vietnam?
5. Where does the reader learn that Mary Anne has been on the night she disappears?
6. How does the author foreshadow that Mary Anne will go out on an ambush with the Greenies?
7. What changes take place in Mary Anne’s appearance and demeanor after her conversation with Mark Fossie?
8. How does Mary Anne respond when Mark Fossie suggests that she think about going home?
9. Why doe Fossie wake up Rat Kiley one evening?
10. Where does Fossie think Mary Anne is? What does Rat Kiley find hwen he checks the bunks?
Directions: Answer each of the following questions
Stockings
1. In your own words, explain the simile O’Brien uses to compare Henry Dobbins to America?
2. What was Henry Dobbins’ one eccentricity?
3. When Henry Dobbins’ girlfriend dumped him, why did he continue with his superstitious practice? Explain your answer
Church
1. Why didn’t Kiowa want to set up base in Pagoda?
2. What childhood secret did Dobbins share with Kiowa?
3. What is ironic about the monks helping Dobbins clean his machine gun?
4. What is Kiowa’s description of a church and how it makes one feel?
The Man I Killed
1. What is most memorable in The Man I Killed? Explain.
2. What is Tim O’Brien’s attitude about the killing and the young man he killed?
Ambush
1. What is most memorable in Ambush?
Directions: Answer each of the following questions
Speaking of Courage
1. TO begin with, why is this story called “Speaking of Coruage”? Assume the title does NOT hold any irony. In what sense does this story speak of courage?
2. Why does Norman Bowker still feel inadequate with seven metals? Why is Norman’s father such a presence in his mental life? Would it really change Norman’s life if he had eight metals, the silver star, etc.
3. What is the more difficult problem for Norman – the lack of the silver star or the death of Kiowa?
4. Like other male characters in this novel (for example, Tim O’Brien & Lt. Cross), Norman Bowker develops an active fantasy life. Why do these men develop these fantasy roles? What do they get form telling these fantasy stories to themselves?
5. Why is Norman unable to relate to anyone at home? More importantly, why doesn’t he even try?
Notes
1. What does Norman Bowker ask Tim O’Brien to do? Why?
2. Describe how Tim O’Brien responds to Norman’s request?
3. What does the narrator reveal at the end of the story?
Directions: Answer each of the following questions
In the Field
1. Explain why the following people feel they are to blame for Kiowa’s death?
Lt. Jimmy Cross
The young soldier searching the field for his girlfriend’s picture
Tim O’Brien
Azar
2. Explain who or what you think is to blame for Kiowa’s death. Be specific
3. Interpret and explain the significance of the following quote: “In the field, though, the causes were immediate. A moment of carelessness or bad judgement or plain stupidity carried consequences that lasted forever.” (177).
Good Form
1. Interpret and explain this quote: “I want to tell you that twenty years ago, I watched a man die on a trail near the village of My Khe. I did nto kill him. But I was presnt, you see, and my presence was guilt enough”.
2. Explain why the “story-truth” helps the narrator to “feel again” (180) and the happening-truth does not.
Field Trip
1. Where did Tim O’Brien visit and who did he take with him?
2. What did Tim think when he revisited the field where Kiowa died?
3. What does Kathleen represent in the story?
Directions: Answer each of the following questions
The Ghost Soldiers
1. Rat Kiley, the medic, treated Tim O’Brien’s first gunshot wound, but not the second one. Why not?
2. Explain in detail why Tim hates Bobby Jorgenson?
3. What is the significance of the title “ghost” to the content and events of this chapter? Explain.
4. What is the plan of revenge O’Brien plans and carries out against Jorgenson? Explain in detail.
5. Who helps O’Brien? Why wouldn’t Mitchell Sanders help him?
6. Interprest the meaning and explain the significance of the following quote: “I felt something shift inside me. It was anger, partly, but it was laso a snese of pure and total loss: It didn’t fit anymore. They were soldiers, I wasn’t.” (198)
7. Why did O’Brien want Azar to stop the “prank”?
Directions: Answer each of the following questions
Night Life
1. Describe how did Rat Kiley changed? Provide specific examples.
2. What did Rat eventually do?
3. Was Rat a coward for doing what he did?
The Lives of the Dead
1. What did the soldiers do that Tim O’Brien could not do? Why did they do this?
2. Who was Linda? Briefly describe her relationship to Tim and what happened to her?
3. Why did Tim dream Linda was alive? How does this connect to the men in Alpha Company?
4. Why does the narrator interweave Linda’s story with stories from Vietnam?