Tim O'Brien's book, The Things They Carried, follows a group of soldiers throughout their trials in the Vietnam War and into their lives once the war has ended. Throughout the short stories O’Brien uses his own experiences to provide the reader with a bombardment of details of the military equipment and necessities that the soldiers are forced to carry. The title serves as the symbolic nature of the story focusing on the figurative things that the soldiers carry (fear, love, even cowardice) with them onto the field of battle. The Things They Carried is a gripping series of Vietnam stories gathered in a format of O'Brien's devising. It is not a collection of short stories, but it is not one story with a beginning and an ending. It is perhaps closest to listening to a soldier storyteller over a long period of time. While you listen to his stories, you hear a bit of his personal life; he uses repetition of events and certain phrases to reinforce familiarity with the tales. Closing the book you believe you know the narrator very well. The author is a Vietnam veteran. Attempting to further confuse fiction with non-fiction, Tim O'Brien gave his storyteller the name "Tim O'Brien."
Directions: Please answer the following questions in COMPLETE SENTENCES. You may use this paper or your own. I have created this website that houses ALL of the links that will help you find the answers to this web inquiry (there are 10 links within this one website that will send you on your way)!
http://stich.it/siMTU5Mg (Mrs. G’s The Things They Carried Web Search)
As you begin reading The Things They Carried, you should begin thinking about the things that you carry.
1. What do you have with you every day that is important in your life? Are you forced to carry this object? Do you carry it for your own personal safety, or is it more of an abstract feeling that lurks beneath your surface?
2. Try to imagine what you would carry with you if you went to war. What things would you carry?
The following themes will be analyzed throughout our time reading the novel, but do your best to answer them now based on what comes to your mind:
3. What is courage?
4. Is war (and/or violence) moral?
5. What is truth?
6. How do humans cope with isolation, loneliness, and loss?
7. Use the following website to list TWENTY (20) facts about the Vietnam War:
· Factbook about Vietnam
· History of Vietnam
· Facts of the Vietnam War
8. The following “burdens” or “states of mind” were selected because they each define the most important elements of The Things They Carried.
a. First, read through the links and summarize the information in each one.
Battle of the Mind
Beasts of Burden (NOT A LINK – you will download this article to skim/summarize)
Mental Health and Readjustment of Veterans (NOT A LINK – you will download this article to skim/summarize)
b. Then, think about what is in your backpack, purse, pockets, or think about your locker. Answer the following questions:
What do you carry every day to school?
What things do you carry that are very visible to the world?
What hidden things do you carry?
What things are totally invisible, that is, abstract or symbolic?
What do others make you carry?
What things do you carry that you’d like to put down?
9. Now, fill-in the following chart and sort out all the things that you carry into the following categories (some items may fall into more than one category).
NECESSITIES / THINGS I LOVE / CONCRETE THINGS / ABSTRACT THINGS / Things that make “me” – me / Things I wish I could “put down” / LUXURIES10. Estimate and write down a symbolic or actual weight for each item listed in your chart.
11. Select the three most significant items (they can be positive and/or negative weight.) What are they AND why did you select these items?
12. Select ONE of the three significant items to answer the following questions:
Item: ______
• Why am I carrying this?
• Did I make the choice or is someone making me carry it?
• Do I wish I could put it down?
• What does it weigh?
• What does it demand of me to carry it?
• Where would I be without it?
13. Read through the following two links below and summarize the information in each one. (Read at least five of the actual war letters.)
In Love and War: Marriage on the Front Lines
Actual War Letters
14. Go to the link below and read the top section about soldiers. Watch the three video segments on the right. As you watch the three segments, make a list of what the clips convey about:
-war in general
-military rituals
-soldiers
-the community that war creates
Love's Shadow
15. Read through the links below and summarize the information in each one.
Five Truths to Help You Tell Great Stories
Truth and Memory
The Truth about Stories
16. Then, make a list of 10 events (major and ordinary) that have happened to you since school started this year. Brainstorm one of the events and decide on a theme or moral of the event, and add fictional ideas and details to emphasize that theme. Write a short story about the event which includes both fictional and actual details.