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The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

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Context

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Reading Assignments
Refer to the class "reminder" to determine which theme and questions you have been assigned.  

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Directions: 

1. Complete the novel structure handout as you read.  
2. As/After you read, respond to/answer your assigned THEME, ESSENTIAL QUESTION and RESPONSE QUESTIONS USING SPECIFIC TEXTUAL SUPPORT.  (These are printed below.) Each response should be a well-developed paragraph.  This means that you will write a total of SIX paragraphs and include support with citations in each paragraph.  (I've been asked in the past: How am I supposed to write a paragraph for the theme? It's not asking me anything.  OK, AP students: Respond to it.  How is the theme presented in the novel?  There's your question.)  

Format and submission:Please type your responses and bring a hard copy to class the day the novel is due.  You will also submit your responses to turnitin.com. These responses will be scored on the AP writing rubric; failure to incorporate specific support FOR THE THEME AND EACH QUESTION will result in a grade no higher than a 4.

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If you are assigned #1:
ESSENTIAL THEME

• In fiction, truth is not a matter of fact but instead how one perceives and experiences truth.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

• Why do people tell stories? 

RESPONSE QUESTIONS

1. Style: Why do you feel O’Brien chose to write this book as fiction?  Why does he call the book fiction when so many of the stories seem autobiographical?  What is the relationship between facts and truths?  Use specific textual support.
2. Storytelling:  Why does O’Brien tell incidents several times and why are his “recollections” different each time?  You may want to consider how stories you’ve told change over time.  Use specific textual support.
3. Philosophy and Personal Choice: Describe the distinction between "being braver than [one] ever thought possible" and "not being so brave as [one] wanted to be" (153).  Use specific textual support. Please make sure your support goes beyond the quote used in the question. In other words, use other parts of O'Brien's text to support what he says here.
4. War: O’Brien says:  “If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie.  There is no rectitude whatsoever.”  Explain. Use specific textual support. Again: Please make sure your support goes beyond the quote used in the question. In other words, use other parts of O'Brien's text to support what he says here.

If you are assigned #2: 
ESSENTIAL THEME

• There are multiple alternative truths to every historical event.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

• How does perspective guide our understanding truth?

RESPONSE QUESTIONS

1. Style:  Describe the humor that often accompanies these stories.  What is the form this humor takes?  What function does it perform?  You may want to consider when you have used humor in a difficult situation.  Use specific textual support.
2. Storytelling: O’Brien often suggests that “words were insufficient” to explain both inner emotions and outer experience.  How effective are his “words” in capturing his experience?  How close can language come to describing the truths of our lives? Use specific textual support.
3. Philosophy and Personal Choice: Norman Bowker learns in “Speaking of Courage” that sometimes “the difference between courage and cowardice was something small and stupid.”  Explain O’Brien’s insistence on showing how courage, cowardice, love, and hate can exist side by side within individual soldiers.  Use specific textual support. Please make sure your support goes beyond the quote used in the question. In other words, use other parts of O'Brien's text to support what he says here.
4. War: What is the role of a citizen during war?  If you think a war is unjust, should you say so, or is that unpatriotic?  Describe the various forms patriotism can take during wartime, including protesting the war.  Use specific textual support.

If you are assigned #3:
ESSENTIAL THEME

• Story telling/retelling is a societal and cultural need in order to make sense of our existence and experience the world.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

• How does truth play a role in fiction?  And does truth matter in fiction?

RESPONSE QUESTIONS

1. Style: Discuss two concrete objects that help to characterize the soldiers (such as the photo or the Bible).  Explain what these details/objects imply.  Use specific textual support.
2. Storytelling:  “By telling stories, you objectify your experience,” O’Brien writes.  “You pin down certain truths” (158).  Describe at least one truth you feel O’Brien pins down.  Use specific textual support. Please make sure your support goes beyond the quote used in the question. In other words, use other parts of O'Brien's text to support what he says here.
3. Philosophy and Personal Choice: What choice does Jimmy Cross in “The Things They Carried” make on the first page of the story?  The last page?  Describe the change in him from beginning to end.   Use specific textual support.
4. Gender Issues: Describe the different roles of women in the stories in which they appear.  Use specific textual support.

Related Reading

The Man He Killed by Thomas Hardy

ldquo;Had he and I but met

• Witness Accounts in Midtown Hammer Attack Show the Power of False Memory by Jim Dwyer for The New York Times (May 14, 2015)
• A Letter to My Son by Tim O'Brien