The Things They Carried
This lieutenant carries letters and photos from a girl named Martha.
Jimmy Cross
According to the narrator, a true war story is never this.
Moral
This event causes the narrator to panic and consider fleeing the country.
Drafted
This young woman is brought to Vietnam by her boyfriend.
Mary Anne Bell
In “Love,” this character visits the narrator years after the war to talk about Martha.
Jimmy Cross
This is what Martha sends to Jimmy Cross that he keeps as a good-luck charm.
Pebble
This soldier tells the story about his friend Curt Lemon’s death
Rat Kiley
The narrator flees to this small Minnesota town near the Canadian border.
Tip Top Lodge
This is the name of Mary Anne’s boyfriend, a medic stationed in Vietnam.
Mark Fossie
In “Spin,” the narrator describes war not as constant violence, but as this type of experience made up of many small moments.
What is a series of random or mixed moments (or “a collection of memories”
These are the basic items all soldiers carry, such as food, water, and ammunition.
Necessities or Standard Gear
Curt Lemon dies while doing this in the jungle.
What is stepping on a booby-trapped artillery round (or playing catch with a smoke grenade before it happens)?
This elderly man owns the lodge and silently supports the narrator.
Elroy BErdahl
When Mary Anne first arrives, she helps the soldiers by doing this job
What is assisting in the medical station (or helping with wounded soldiers)
Jimmy Cross admits in “Love” that he still has feelings for this woman.
Martha
This soldier is shot and killed, causing Jimmy Cross to feel responsible.
Ted Lavender
After Curt Lemon’s death, Rat Kiley writes a letter to this person, who never responds.
Curt Lemons Sister
This river represents the narrator’s choice between going to war or escaping to Canada.
Rainy River
Over time, Mary Anne becomes fascinated with this group of soldiers and begins spending time with them.
Green Berets
In “Spin,” the soldiers pass time and cope with war by doing this seemingly strange activity.
What is playing games or joking around (or dancing, telling stories, and goofing off)?
After Ted Lavender’s death, Jimmy Cross does this to Martha’s letters and photos as a way to cope with guilt.
Burns Them
According to the narrator, this is the feeling you may have when hearing a true war story, even if it’s disturbing or tragic.
What is that it feels true or makes you believe it (or even makes you feel beauty mixed with horror)
In the end, the narrator decides to go to war because of this overwhelming fear.
Fear of Embarrassment
By the end of the chapter, Mary Anne symbolizes this major theme about the effects of war.
What is the transformation/corruption of innocence (or how war changes people)
Both “Love” and “Spin” emphasize this idea about war memories and storytelling.
What is that war is remembered in fragments/moments and shaped by memory (or that stories help make sense of war)