Plan to have each reading assignment and journal entry done on the day listed. You can expect to participate in a discussion group on each day that an assignment is due.
Use the questions below each reading assignment as a starting point for your journal entry. You are not required to answer every question listed and can, in fact, formulate another question that is more thought-provoking to you. What is most important is that your journal entries demonstrate what you thought about the characters, the plot, the setting, the language. Entries that summarize the content of each chapter will NOT earn a passing grade or prepare you for the discussions.
The Things They Carried Journal Questions
Reading Assignment 1 – Page 1-26
“The Things They Carried”
In the list of all the things the soldiers carried, what item was most surprising? Which item did you find most evocative of the war? Which items were most thought-provoking? Explain the meaning of the title, “The Things They Carried.” What is the first item listed as a carried thing? Why? Think about the metaphors of “weight.”
Reading Assignment 2 – Page 31-38
“Spin”
“On occasions the war was like a Ping-Pong ball. You could put fancy spin on it, you could make it dance” (32). What does this mean? What is the “spin” O’Brien is talking about?
Identify where in this chapter O’Brien spins the story, events, etc. What is he trying to show to the reader?
What does O’Brien say about stories in the chapter “Spin” (bottom of 34-top of 35, 38)? What does it suggest about story-telling and the stories we will read ahead?
Reading Assignment 3 – Page 39-54
“On the Rainy River”
In "On The Rainy River," we learn the 21-year-old O'Brien's theory of courage: "Courage, I seemed to think, comes to us in finite quantities, like an inheritance, and by being frugal and stashing it away and letting it earn interest, we steadily increase our moral capital in preparation for that day when the account must be drawn down. It was a comforting theory." What might the 43-year-old O'Brien's theory of courage be? Were you surprised when he described his entry into the Vietnam War as an act of cowardice? Do you agree that a person could enter a war as an act of cowardice?
- "On the Rainy River" is perhaps the moral center of the book. In this section we meet Elroy Berdahl. Do you think he existed in O'Brien's life? What does he represent? What does Elroy Berdahl do that leads O’Brien to call him “the hero of my life”? Why doesn’t Berdahl ask O’Brien why he’s there?
Reading Assignment 4 – Page 55-61
“On the Rainy River”
Reading Assignment 5 – 62-66
“Enemies”
What can be learned from this story about soldiers during a war?
How do guns impact the storyline?
What does this story suggest about human beings being in situations where they are armed and in foreign lands?
“Friends”
Poor Strunk can’t catch a break (though he did steal Jensen’s knife). What is “a wheelchair wound”? (65). How does Strunk react to his injury?
Why are “Enemies” and “Friends” back-to-back in this book?
What are we supposed to learn about humanity from them?
Reading Assignment 6 – Page 67-88
“How to Tell a True War Story"
Often, in the course of his stories, O'Brien tells us beforehand whether or not the story will have a happy or tragic ending. Why might he do so? How does it affect your attitude towards the narrator?
According to O'Brien, how do you tell a true war story? What does he mean when he says that true war stories are never about war? What does he mean when he writes of one story, "That's a true story that never happened"?
“The Dentist”
Reading Assignment 7 – Page 117-118, 124-134
"Stockings"
- Why did Henry Dobbins continue to carry his girlfriend's stocking even after she broke up with him?
- Consider the comparison O'Brien makes between Dobbins and America. Does O'Brien like America? Does he respect it?
“The Man I Killed”
How did the narrator react to the fact that he killed another human being? What evidence in the story leads you to this conclusion?
This story describes fairly intimate aspects of the dead man’s life. Where do these details come from? How can Tim O’Brien know them? What is going on here?
“Ambush”
Tim O’Brien’s daughter, Kathleen, asks if he ever killed a man: “ ‘You keep writing these war stories,’ she said,‘so I guess you must’ve killed somebody.’” Following this, O’Brien relates two possible scenarios of the death described in “The Man I Killed” to explain “This is why I keep writing war stories.” In your opinion, why does O’Brien keep writing war stories?
Where does truth reside in this book? What is the connection between O’Brien’s actual experiences and the events in this book? Why is O’Brien using lies to get at “the truth”?
Reading Assignment 8 – Page 137-161
“Speaking of Courage”
Aside from "The Things They Carried," "Speaking of Courage" is the only other story written in third person. Why are these stories set apart in this manner? What does the author achieve by doing so?
Why is this story called “Speaking of Courage”? Assume the title does NOT hold any irony. In what sense does this story speak of courage?
Like other male characters in this novel, Norman Bowker develops an active fantasy life. Why do these men develop these fantasy roles? What do they get from telling these fantasy stories to themselves? What does this tell you about O’Brien’s understanding of the way fiction relates to real life?
“Notes”
What is the effect of "Notes," in which O'Brien explains the story behind "Speaking Of Courage"? Does your appreciation of the story change when you learn which parts are "true" and which are the author's invention?
Reading Assignment 9 – Page 162-180
“In the Field”
In "In The Field," O'Brien writes, "When a man died, there had to be blame." What does this mandate do to the men of O'Brien's company? Are they justified in thinking themselves at fault? How do they cope with their own feelings of culpability?
Three stories in succession, “Speaking of Courage,” “Notes,” and “In the Field,” deal with one event: Kiowa’s death. O’Brien similarly shows us incidents from different perspectives throughout the book. Where else does this device occur? How do these different perspectives change your understanding of an incident? Why do you think the author chose to do this?
“Good Form”
In "Good Form," the narrator says, “I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth.” What does he mean by “story-truth” and “happening-truth”? Why might one be “truer” than the other?
“Field Trip” (Blog/journal for extra credit)
Reading Assignment 10
“The Ghost Soldiers”
The narrator of this story says, “When you’re afraid, really afraid, you see things you never saw before, you pay attention to the world.” What might he mean by this?
“Night Life”
Reading Assignment 11 – Page 224-end
“The Lives of the Dead”
Why is O'Brien unable to joke around with the other soldiers? Why does the old man remind him of Linda?
What is the function of the Linda plot in “The Lives of the Dead”? Consider in particular what it teaches him about death, memory, storytelling.
What is the “moral” of the dead KIAs? Consider Mitchell Sanders' view.
In many ways, this book is as much about stories, or the necessity of stories, as it is about the Vietnam War. According to O’Brien, what do stories accomplish? Why does he continue to tell stories about the Vietnam War, about Linda?
Final Journal: Overall Reflection
Even though The Things They Carried is set during the Vietnam War, in what ways is it relevant today, with regard to war and politics as well as our personal struggles?
What did Tim O’Brien gain by serving in Vietnam? What did he lose? Support your opinions with passages from the text.
If the United States instituted the draft and your number came up, would you choose to serve? Explain in detail why you would make one choice and reject the other. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the choice you would make?
Assume for a moment, that the writer, Tim O’Brien, created a fictional main character, also called Tim O’Brien, to inhabit this novel. Why would the real Tim O’Brien do that? What would that accomplish in this novel? How would that strengthen a book about “truth”?
On the copyright page of the novel appears the following: "This is a work of fiction. Except for a few details regarding the author's own life, all the incidents, names, and characters are imaginary." How does this statement affect your reading of the novel?
