Characters pt 1
Young, inexperienced lieutenant in charge of Alpha Company during the Vietnam War. He is a central figure who struggles with the weight of command, guilt over the deaths of his men
Jimmy Cross
"sweetheart" coming to visit her steady boyfriend in Vietnam. Fossie brings her to Vietnam in hopes that she will eventually marry him. Instead, he loses her.
Mary Anne Bell
“The truths are contradictory. It can be argued, for instance, that war is grotesque. But in truth war is also beauty."
What theme does this show?
War is not all of one thing.. it can be multiple things all at once
"True war stories do not generalize. They do not indulge in abstraction or analysis."
Who says this, and when?
Narrator, "How to Tell a True War Story"
What was the average age of the men in the platoon?
Late teens early 20's
Native American soldier, carries a New Testament Bible and his grandfather's hunting hatchet, dies by drowning in a sewage field
Kiowa
Tim O'Brien's girl back home who he obsesses over
Martha
Where do we see the fear of shame?
"On the Rainy River"
"I survived, but it’s not a happy ending. I was a coward. I went to the war."
Who says this, and when?
O'Brien decides to go to the war after time to reflect in northern Minnesota, and getting the chance to see the Rainy River
True or False: From the beginning, O'Brien admits to his daughter that he killed a man
false
Finds Kiowa's body, later kills himself after struggling to find anyone to speak to about his experiences
Norman Bowker
machine gunner of the platoon
Henry Dobbins
Where in TTTC do we see the burdens of war?
"What happened to her, Rat said, was what happened to all of them. You come over clean and you get dirty and then afterward it’s never the same."
What is the context of this quote?
After Mary Anne Bell is transformed by the war
What happens in “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”?
Mary Anne Bell goes to visit her boyfriend, is completely transformed by the war, joins the Green Berets and wears a necklace made of human tongues
Platoon medic, eventually shoots himself in the foot because he is so traumatized
Rat Kiley
Narrator of the story, speaking with inspiration from his own experiences
Tim O'Brien
What is the significance of the title, “The Things They Carried”
Soldiers were under a lot of physical and psychological pressure
They carried all they could bear, and then some, including a silent awe for the terrible power of the ______ ______ ________"
Fill in the blank
Things they carried
How does the narrator imagine the life of the man he killed?
- he wanted to be a math teacher
- he didn't want to be in the war
consistently tries to prove his manliness and courage through reckless behavior, steps on a booby-trapped mortar round while playing with a grenade
Curt Lemon
Afraid to die, and is shot while peeing. He carried tranquilizers
Ted Lavender
“A true war story, if truly told,makes the stomach believe” (74)
What theme does this quote portray?
The importance of storytelling
"None of these decorations was for uncommon valor. They were for common valor. The routine, daily stuff--just humping, just enduring--but that was worth something, wasn’t it? Yes, it was. Worth plenty." (135)
Who is this quote about, and what is the context?
Norman Bowker, imagining what he would tell his dad
Who dies during "How to Tell a True War Story"?
Curt Lemon