Homework for Saturday Group due 12/3

While reading Soldier’s Home and the first chapter of Slaughterhouse Five, please consider the following questions and write down your answers:

1. What, if anything, does each story have to say about the themes that are taken up in The Things They Carried? 

• heroism / bravery / cowardice
• shame and social pressure
• guilt / confession / catharsis
• truth vs. fact ("story truth" vs. "happening truth")
• desensitization
• loss of innocence
• burdens 

2. What stance does the author of each story seem to take regarding the righteousness or validity of war? Do these authors tend to agree or disagree with Tim O’Brien’s position on war?

3. What is the main point of each story? How does each story use detail and imagery to illustrate its point?

Homework for Saturday Group due 11/26

Choose two images from "Speaking of Courage" that you believe are important. Write one paragraph for each image in which you discuss that image's significance. In your paragraphs, you may consider:

• potential symbolism
• tone
• structural significance (i.e. how the image contributes to the form or structure of the story)

Each paragraph should be typed. Please be prepared to share your thoughts and writing with the group next Saturday.

Reading Questions and Vocabulary for "Night Life" and "The Lives of the Dead"

“Night Life”

1. Explain the term “night life”. How is this term used in the last line of the story?
2. How does night life affect the men in the platoon? How does it affect Rat Kiley?
3. What evidence of desensitization can you find in this story?

“The Lives of the Dead”

1. Why do the men shake hands with the dead villager?
2. Why does the “awesome act of greeting the dead” bother Tim (214)? Does he ever get over being bothered by it?
3. What reason does Tim give Kiowa on page 215 for not shaking hands with the man? Can you make a connection between this reason and one of the major themes of the book?
4. Why does Tim’s mother give him a “hard look” after his comment about Linda’s red cap (217)?
5. Consider the section between the page breaks on pages 218-219. What is the point of this section? How does the conversation between Sanders and “Lavender” support this point?
6. Why do you think Linda smiles during the most gruesome parts of the movie she watches with Tim?
7. In what way is Tim a coward in the story he tells about Linda on page 221?
8. What transpires in the “conversation” between Linda and Tim on page 223?
9. How do the men use language and stories to cope with death?
10. Consider the paragraph that begins after the page break on page 229. O’Brien writes: “I never shook hands—not that—but one afternoon I climbed a tree and threw down what was left of Curt Lemon. I watched my friend Kiowa sink into the muck along the Song Tra Bong. And in early July, after a battle in the mountains, I was assigned to a six-man detail to police up the enemy KIAs.” How might the details that follow the pivot “but” related to the fact that Tim never shook hands with the dead?
11. According to Tim, what is the “magic of stories” (231)?
12. Why does Tim write stories?
13. Why do you think O’Brien chose to end this book with a story (Linda’s) that does not take place in or during the war? 

approximation, n. (222)

translucent, adj. (222)

Homework for Saturday Group due 11/19

Write a three-paragraph essay on an object you carry regularly. Describe the object, the mood it evokes, and the reasons for its importance. Consider using details to achieve an appropriate tone for your essay.

Bring a typed rough-draft of your essay on Saturday. Be prepared to share your essay with the class.

Homework for Tuesday Group, due 11/15

1. Read and annotate "The Quang Ngai Province and the My Lai Massacre".
2. Write a 3-5 paragraph essay on the following prompt:

The massacre in My Lai brought attention to the issue of desensitization in the US military during the Vietnam War. How does "The Ghost Soldiers" explore the issue of military desensitization to violence? Does the story offer an explanation for the violent behavior it portrays? What other stories take up the issue of desensitization? How do those stories explore the issue?

Reading Questions and Vocabulary for "Speaking of Courage" through "The Ghost Soldiers"

“Speaking of Courage”

1. Explain the difference between common and uncommon valor. How does Norman justify his lack of medals for uncommon valor?
2. With whom does Norman imagine discussing his experiences in Vietnam? Why does he want to tell these people about his experiences?
3. Why is Max’s “becoming a pure idea” (139) an example of irony? (Hint: see page 133.)
4. What is “sometimes the bravest things in the world” (141), according to Norman? How does this definition of bravery differ from uncommon valor?
5. Why was the Vietnam War “not a war for war stories” (143)?
6. Why do you think O’Brien chose to frame Norman’s story with a small-town Fourth of July celebration?

fickle, adj. (132)

bivoack, n. (138)

“Notes”

1. Explain Tim’s assertion that telling stories is “partly catharsis, partly communication” (151). How has story-telling helped Tim move on after the war? How did an inability to tell stories affect Norman?
2. Besides the fact that it is told two decades after the Vietnam War, what makes “Speaking of Courage” a “postwar story” (153)?
3. How and why did O’Brien revise “Speaking of Courage”?

catharsis, n. 151

“In the Field”

1. Why does Lt. Cross insist on finding Kiowa’s body?
2. How does Lt. Cross view his men? How is this different from the way he was trained to view them?
3. Whom does Lt. Cross blame for Kiowa’s death? Why? Whom does Sanders blame? Why? Whom does Bowker blame? Why? Whom does the young man who was with Kiowa the night he died blame? Why?
4. Why did Lt. Cross sign up for officer training? How does he feel about his decision now?
5. What do you think is the point or main idea of this story? Is this point present in other stories as well? Which ones?

“Good Form”

1. Explain how stories can “make things present” (172). How does the story on page 172 “make present” the truth of the story on page 171? Choose another story from the book and explain how it makes a truth present.

“Field Trip”

1. Why does Tim go back to the shit field? Why is his visit disappointing?
2. On page 179, what does the old man do when he sees Tim in the water? Why do you think he does this?

relics, n. (177)

“The Ghost Soldiers”

1. What makes Rat Kiley an effective medic? What makes Bobby Jorgenson an ineffective medic?
2. Why does Tim hate Bobby Jorgenson?
3. Why does Tim miss the war after he has been transferred to Headquarters Company?
4. What is the moral of Morty’s story (page 187), according to Azar?
5. Why are the men so invested in luck and superstition?
6. Why does Sanders think Tim should forgive Jorgenson?
7. What was Tim like before the war? How has the war changed him?
8. Explain the phrase “no skeptics in foxholes” on page 193.
9. Why does Tim ask Azar to help him “spook” Jorgenson? How does Tim feel about getting Azar’s help?
10. List three reasons for Tim’s desire to spook Jorgenson. Consider both stated and implied reasons.
11. What is the purpose of Tim’s discussion of Mary Hopkin on pages 199-200? How does this section contribute to a larger point in the story?
12. This is the first story in the book that features Azar as a major character. Why do you think this is? Consider Azar’s potential symbolic significance.

gyroscope, n. (195)

coherence, n. (199)

lucid, adj. (203)

Homework for Saturday Class, Due 11/12

1. Read The Things They Carried, pages 1-58.
2. Study vocabulary.
3. Read and annotate "The Vietnam War".
4. Complete PSAT, Section 5, #1-10. (Remember to use the strategy we discussed in class!)