In the field, Good Form, Field Trip, The Ghost Soldiers

Chapter 17: “In the Field”
1.    Briefly summarize the plot and style of the story. Is this story more of a “true” war story than the account in the chapter “Speaking of Courage”?
2.    What point of view is used to narrate “In the Field”? 
3.    Why is the young man not identified in the story? What is the character’s purpose in the narrative? 
4.    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? Consider all of the characters.
 5.    What, in the end, is the significance of the shit field story (or stories)?

Chapter 18: “Good Form”
1.    In “Good Form,” O'Brien casts doubt on the veracity of the entire novel. Why does he do so? Does it make you more or less interested in the novel? Does it increase or decrease your understanding? What is the difference between “happening-truth” and “story-truth?”
 
Chapter 19: “Field Trip”
1.    Why does O’Brien return to the shit field? 2.    What is the point of putting Kiowa’s moccasins in the ground (burying them)? 3.    Explain the significance of the final sentence. Who or what is “all finished”?
 
Chapter 20: “The Ghost Soldiers”
1.    What does “The Ghost Soldiers” add to the book that we have almost completed? Does it provide any new insights, perspectives, or experiences about any of the characters? What do you think its function in the overall narrative might be?
2.    Does your opinion of O'Brien change throughout the course of the novel? How so? How do you feel about his actions in “The Ghost Soldiers”?
3.    “The Ghost Soldiers” is one of the only stories of The Things They Carried in which we don't know the ending in advance. Why might O'Brien want this story to be particularly suspenseful?
4.    Explain the significance of the title of this chapter.

AP Paper

AP ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND COMPOSITION

Marking Period #1 Major Paper 

DUE: Friday October 11, 2011

ANALYSIS ESSAY:  Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried

Requirements:

1. A clear thesis statement and introduction which sets out for your reader the point you wish to make about the stories. 
2. A very brief synopsis of the stories you are discussing. This means writing a sentence or two about each story (no more than one paragraph in total).
3. An analysis supported by examples from the text, properly quoted (or paraphrased) and cited.
4. You are not required to use sources other than O’Brien’s book to support your views; if you do use any outside sources, make sure you properly quote or paraphrase and cite. Note, however, that the use of outside sources for this essay is strongly discouraged!
5. Length: 4-5 pages
6. All drafts must be typed (10 or 12 font), double-spaced, 1" margins. .
7. Must have a title other than the book title.
8. Use MLA format for citing.  You are not required to use a separate sheet of paper for Works Cited.

Possible topics:

1. Storytelling: Fact or Fiction

Like most of the literature of the Vietnam war, ''The Things They Carried'' is shaped by the personal combat experience of the author. O'Brien is adamant, however, that the fiction not be mistaken for factual accounts of events. In an interview with Michael Coffey of Publishers Weekly soon after the book was published, O'Brien claims: ‘‘My own experience has virtually nothing to do with the content of the book.’’ Indeed the title

page of the book announces it as ''a work of fiction.'' The book is dedicated, however, ''to the men of Alpha Company, and in particular to Jimmy Cross, Norman Bowker, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Henry Dobbins, and Kiowa." O'Brien himself was an infantryman in Alpha Company and was stationed in the Quang Ngai province in 1969-70. When asked about this device in an interview with Martin Narparsteck in Contemporary Literature, O'Brien explains: "What I'm saying is that even with that nonfiction-sounding element in the story, everything in the story is fiction, beginning to end. To classify different elements of the story as fact or fiction seems to me artificial. Literature should be looked at not for its literal truth but for its emotional qualities. What matters in literature, I think, are the pretty simple things--whether it moves me or not. Whether it feels true. The actual literal truth should be superfluous."

2. THEME AND CHARACTERIZATION:

What is the role of shame or guilt in the soldier’s lives?  How does it affect their actions?  Does it make them heroic or cowardly? Which stories reflect this theme?

3. CHARACTERIZATION:

What role do women play in the novel—as friends, lovers, daughters, mothers, dancers, warriors, etc.?  This topic covers the entire book, but try to keep your focus

specific to particular stories and examples.

4. THEME:

What is the role of death in the book?  Is it a something to be feared or a perhaps an escape from the nightmare of war?

5. STRUCTURE:

    You may want to focus your analysis on the structure of the novel and how the stories and reflections interconnect to present a larger picture.

6. STYLE:

     You may want to focus your analysis on elements of REALISM and  MAGIC REALISM in the novel,  or perhaps you might want to discuss METAFICTION—how this is a novel about fiction.

7. DICTION:

 Tim O'Brien's writing constantly seeks to give meaning to the events that happened in Vietnam. Create a written portrait of Tim O'Brien using three or four carefully selected passages that describe the narrator's inner thoughts as evidence to support your ideas. What does each reveal about his concerns, hopes, and fears? How do certain word choices reveal the way he sees the world?

8. Your choice: Discuss with Ms. Gamzon

Most Common AP Class Errors

1.     Beginning sentences with “and” or “but”

2.     Fragments and run-ons

-Refer back to Strunk and White

3.     Not adhering to MLA format

-12 pt., Times New Roman Font

-Double Spacing

–Block Quotes: When including quotes four lines or more in length, single space and indent the selection

-Citing an author (Author’s last name (no comma) page #)

-Placing the period within the quotation marks or at the end of a citation

4.     Not using the present tense when talking about a literary piece of work

5.     Not properly using quotes

-Using quotes as filler rather than as support for your ideas

            Using partial quotes can be a good fix for this

-Listing quotes rather than introducing them

            Quotes should not float within your writing; they should tie in

with your argument

                        -Never using quotes and just summarizing the work

6.     Not placing the thesis at the end of the first paragraph

-This is where the reader is expecting to find your thesis

-This guides your reader for what is to come

7.     Improper introductions and conclusions

-Using phrases such as “in conclusion,” “finally,” or “ultimately”

-Not writing a hook for the introduction

            Refer to:

Use a hook:

homeworktips.about.com/od/essaywriting/a/hook.htm

Vocabulary Things They Carried

For test on Fri. Oct. 4

Vocabulary Things They Carried

1. devout
   deeply religious
   EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
   

   Devout Christians usually pray in public and swear in private.
   —Remsburg, John B.
2. profound
   situated at or extending to great depth; too deep to have been sounded or plumbed
   EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
   

   Another mainland businessman who spent several days in Taiwan said the election had a profound impact on his understanding of politics.
   —New York Times (Jan 16, 2012)
3. volition
   the act of making a choice
   EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
   

   Somehow, not by my own volition, I was in the group nearest him.
   —Salon (Jan 27, 2011)
4. ambiguity
   unclearness by virtue of having more than one meaning
   EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
   

   "There should be no ambiguity about that," he said.
   —The Guardian (Aug 5, 2010)
5. reservoir
   lake used to store water for community use
   EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
   

   Two of these reservoirs are kept full of water at all times as a reserve, and in case of fire.
   —Anonymous
6. imperative
   requiring attention or action
   EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
   

   Obama said higher education today is “an economic imperative” instead of a luxury.
   —BusinessWeek (Jan 27, 2012)
7. negligence
   failure to act with the prudence that a reasonable person would exercise under the same circumstances
   EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
   

   In court papers, the reported victim’s lawyers allege an atmosphere of negligence at Penn State and the Second Mile stretching back decades.
   —New York Times (Nov 30, 2011)
8. acquiescence
   agreement with a statement or proposal to do something
   EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
   

   One or two muffled complaints and quiet acquiescence.
   —Salon (Mar 4, 2010)
9. cryptic
   having a secret or hidden meaning
   EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
   

   Also, cryptic handwritten comments were found in a safe at his home that referred to assassination, investigators said.
   —Seattle Times (Jan 26, 2011)
10. reticence
    the trait of being uncommunicative; not volunteering anything more than necessary
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    Mr. Bernard, known for reticence, not public belligerence, smiled slightly before answering.
    —New York Times (Jul 28, 2011)
11. insufficient
    of a quantity not able to fulfill a need or requirement
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    Treasury, said donations are insufficient to solve the budget deficit.
    —BusinessWeek (Jan 23, 2012)
12. monotonous
    sounded or spoken in a tone unvarying in pitch
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    The old man stopped suddenly, having told all his story in a dull, monotonous voice, with little feeling and no dramatic display.
    —Allen, Grant
13. elusive
    skillful at eluding capture
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    While details remain elusive, “there’s an increasing consciousness that this is the only way forward.”
    —BusinessWeek (Nov 14, 2011)
14. intransitive
    designating a verb that does not require or cannot take a direct object
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    In the last stanza, though, Housman rhymes three intransitive verbs – "nighs", "sighs", "replies".
    —The Guardian (Aug 15, 2011)
15. amnesty
    a warrant granting release from punishment for an offense
16. oppressive
    weighing heavily on the senses or spirit
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    An oppressive silence followed, while each girl looked blankly at her neighbor.
    —Halsey, Rena I.
17. encysted
    enclosed in (or as if in) a cyst
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    After death the bullet was found buried and encysted in the heart.
    —Pyle, Walter L. (Walter Lytle)
18. intangible
    incapable of being perceived by the senses especially the sense of touch
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    There are too many other factors, intangible factors, that make up a company’s value.
    —Forbes (Aug 15, 2011)
19. laxity
    the quality of being lax and neglectful
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    There reigned also a deplorable laxity of morals; and the graceful Polish women were very seductive.
    —Hoffmann, E. T. A. (Ernst Theodor Amadeus)
20. fungal
    of or relating to fungi
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    Fungal infections are even more difficult to treat.
    —Nature (Oct 12, 2011)
21. rectitude
    righteousness as a consequence of being honorable and honest
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    A more profound cinematic influence for would-be lawyers, he said, is Atticus Finch, that symbol of moral rectitude in “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
    —New York Times (Oct 21, 2010)
22. proximity
    the property of being close together
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    And despite its proximity to Japan, South Korea, with 21 active nuclear reactors, is moving forward on 18 more.
    —New York Times (Jan 12, 2012)
23. affirm
    to declare or affirm solemnly and formally as true
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    In reclaiming "Flying," Young affirms that for him country music wasn't just another '80s mood swing, but an essential building block of his career.
    —Chicago Tribune (Jun 13, 2011)
24. ordinance
    an authoritative rule
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    At the same time, an ordinance was issued forbidding any person to carry out the King's good money or to bring in counterfeit.
    —Shaw, William Arthur
25. comport
    behave in a certain manner
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    Ironically, the one man on stage who did comport himself with dignity, John Huntsman, is now being dismissed as having not made an impact.
    —Time (Sep 8, 2011)
26. platitude
    a trite or obvious remark
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    Bad advice, judgments and platitudes are not what Mitch needs right now.
    —The Guardian (Aug 11, 2011)
27. catharsis
    purging the body by the use of a cathartic to stimulate evacuation of the bowels
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    We needed distance and now we can finally have catharsis.”
    —New York Times (Jun 14, 2010)
28. eviscerate
    remove the entrails of
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    These animals were being eviscerated and just left there to slowly die, flailing about in the sun.
    —New York Times (Sep 20, 2010)
29. accord
    concurrence of opinion
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    The numbers present were not precisely ascertainable, as the men were not under discipline, but had turned up of their own accord.
    —Duncan, Sara Jeannette
30. selective
    characterized by very careful or fastidious selection
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    At a time of global uncertainties, though, consumers are becoming more selective.
    —Reuters (Nov 9, 2011)
31. figurative
    (used of the meanings of words or text) not literal; using figures of speech
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    I mean a kick in the figurative sense; the one that leaves no trace, and does not prevent us from sitting at our ease.
    —O'Rell, Max
32. objector
    a person who dissents from some established policy
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    A conscientious objector, he did not enlist in the armed forces during the second world war.
    —The Guardian (Jan 23, 2011)
33. implausible
    highly imaginative but unlikely
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    I find it utterly implausible that Google charges sites for placement in its search results, as the EU's inquiry insinuates.
    —Washington Post (Jan 14, 2011)
34. topography
    the configuration of a surface and the relations among its man-made and natural features
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    He had had some training in topography and he kindly agreed to take over the map question.
    —Roosevelt, Theodore
35. immediacy
    the quickness of action or occurrence
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    This absence of body language, and the single-click immediacy of online sharing has created problems that have no ready parallel offline.
    —New York Times (Sep 3, 2010)
36. conscientious
    characterized by extreme care and great effort
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    A conscientious hostess would be very much mortified if she served chicken out of its proper course.
    —Reed, Myrtle
37. predatory
    living by preying on other animals especially by catching living prey
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    Predatory birds, feeding on fish, insects, and even reptiles, birds, and small quadrupeds.
    —Johns, Rev. C. A.
38. defiance
    a hostile challenge
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    But in light of Iran’s continued defiance, some, including many in Israel, have argued that military action is the only solution.
    —Washington Post (Nov 8, 2011)
39. evasion
    the act of physically escaping from something (an opponent or a pursuer or an unpleasant situation) by some adroit maneuver
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    Two of its partners were found guilty of tax evasion in May.
    —Reuters (Jan 13, 2012)
40. controversial
    marked by or capable of arousing controversy
    EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
    

    The sites are blacking out to protest controversial anti-piracy legislation in the House and Senate.
    —Forbes (Jan 17, 2012)
41. toiling
    doing arduous or unpleasant work
42. serenity
    the absence of mental stress or anxiety
43. monotony
    constancy of tone or pitch or inflection
44. bewilderment
    confusion resulting from failure to understand
45. taut
    pulled or drawn tight

TTC--In the Field, Good Form, Field Trip, Ghost Soldiers

AGENDA:

Homework: Read to pg. 219 in The Things They Carried


Figures of Speech
http://grammar.about.com/od/rhetoricstyle/a/20figures.htm 

Essay --The Things They Carried

Read, discuss and evaluate the following student essay. Post a comment regarding your observations.
What is strong about the following student essay?  What needs to be strengthened or revised?

NYS ELA criteria:    Meaning, Development, Organization, Language, Conventions

USE OF TEXT-BASED QUOTES

MLA STYLE

from BookRags:

The Things They Carried: Coping With Death

Summary: Discusses the Tim O'Brien book, The Things They Carried. Examines how O'Brien conveys his approach to death, coping skills, and the loss of his childhood friend, Linda. Reveals how O'Brien used his coping skills in the Vietnam War.

---

Death is one of life's most challenging obstacles. Tim O'Brien was exposed to more than his fair share of death. To manage the emotional stress, he developed methods of coping with the death in his life. O'Brien's novel, The Things They Carried, demonstrates his attempts to make death less real through psychotherapeutic tactics like telling stories about the dead as if they were living and conceiving the dead as items instead of people.

O'Brien explains how the stories told about those who have passed are meant to keep the deceased's life alive. The "weight of memory" was one thing all the solders carried (14). When added to the physical weight of their gear and the emotional burdens of war, it was all too much. In response, the men altered their perceptions of the truth in order to lighten the haunting weight of memory. O'Brien suggests "in a true war story nothing is ever absolutely true," memory is altered to compensate for its weight (82). In this way, O'Brien, and the rest of the men, were able to utilize "story-truth (179)." Stories alter truth; therefore, a well-told story can actually allow the dead to continue to live on. "In a story, the dead sometimes smile and sit up and return to the world (225)." In this way you could "keep the dead alive" with "blatant lies, bringing the body and soul back together (239)." O'Brien remembers listening to a story about Curt Lemon. He recalls how "you'd never know that Curt Lemon was dead (240)." It seemed like "he was still out there in the dark" yet, "he was dead (240)." Similarly O'Brien uses story to save his childhood friend's life, "not her body - her life (236)." In his stories Linda "can smile and sit up. She can reach out (236)." He allows her to come to life and "touch [his] wrist and [say], "Timmy, stop crying." (238)." O'Brien and the rest of the men are able to find a comfort in the unreal that the real cannot offer.

The solders in Vietnam were able to eliminate the reality of death through predictable responses (20). One response was to "call [death] by other names (21)." "If it isn't human, it doesn't matter much if it's dead . . . a VC nurse, fired by napalm, was a crisp critter. A Vietnamese baby, which lay nearby, was a roasted peanut (238-239)." This detachment made death easier to handle. Furthering the illusion that the dead were not really people, the men would interact with the corpses on a very dehumanizing level. For example, there was a corpse of an old man in a small town. "Dave Jensen went over and shook the old man's hand" and said "How-dee-doo (226)." " One by one the others did too (226)." They all shook the corpse's hand, except O'Brien. O'Brien did not touch the body because for him death was still real. He admits it was "Way too real (226)." He had not yet acquired the survival technique of distancing one's self from the reality of death.

The actuality of war in Vietnam required that the solders have coping techniques in order to retain any mental stability. War was death. "There were a million ways to die. Booby traps and land mines and gangrene and shock and polio from a VC virus (197)." The solders "carried the emotional baggage of men who might die" at any moment (21). "Ted Lavender was shot in the head on his way back from peeing (12)." "The dead were everywhere . . . some in piles" that "proximity to death" changes a person (242, 81). The men needed to develop these coping skills of distancing and selective memory in order to remain sane. "When a man died, there had to be blame" and it was always everyone's fault; yet, no one could handle the soul responsibility (176-177). Often times you held someone's life in your own two hands and were forced to live with the blame if you let go (150). If you were unable to delude yourself as to the reality of death and your part in it, terrible emotional stress was the result. "Lieutenant Cross found himself trembling . . . He felt shame. He hated himself . . . he burned the two photographs" that distracted him, seemingly causing the mistake that killed his solder, he "couldn't burn the blame (16-23)." The guilt and responsibility would destroy the solders if they did not practice coping techniques.

"War is hell . . . war is mystery terror and adventure and courage and discovery and despair and . . . war is nasty (80)." When it all happened it was not like "a movie you aren't a hero and all you can do is whimper and wait (211)." O'Brien and the rest of the solders were just ordinary people thrust into extraordinary situations. They needed to tell blatant lies" to "bring the body and soul back together (239)." They needed to eliminate the reality of death. As ordinary people they were not capable of dealing with the engulfing realities of death and war therefore they needed to create coping skills. O'Brien approaches the loss of his childhood friend, Linda, in the same way he approaches the loss of his comrades in the war as this is the only way he knows how to deal with death. A skill he learned, and needed, in the Vietnam War.

HUNTER COLLEGE READING/WRITING CENTER
THE WRITING PROCESS
Invention: Five Qualities of Good Writing

     What is good writing?  This is not an easy question to
answer.  Many very different kinds of writing are considered
"good" and for many different reasons.  There is no formula or
program for writing well.  However, there are certain qualities
that most examples of good writing share.  The following is a
brief description of five important qualities of good writing. 
The qualities described here are especially appropriate for
academic and expository writing.  



         FIVE IMPORTANT QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITING

Writing should have focus:         An essay should have a single
                                   clear central idea.  Each
                                   paragraph should have a clear
                                   main point or topic sentence.

Writing should have development:   Each paragraph should support
                                   the central idea of the paper.
                                   Individual sentences should
                                   support the main point of the
                                   paragraph.   

Writing should have unity:         Every paragraph in an essay
                                   should be related to the main
                                   idea.  Each paragraph should
                                   stick to its main point.

Writing should have coherence:     An essay or paper should be
                                   organized logically, flow
                                   smoothly, and "stick"
                                   together.

                                   In other words, everything in
                                   the writing should make sense
                                   to a reader.

Writing should have correctness:   A paper should be written in
                                   generally correct standard
                                   English, with complete
                                   sentences, and be relatively
                                   error-free.

     One additional quality, not part of this list, but
nevertheless, very important, is creativity.  The best writing is
that which carries some of the personality, the individuality of
its author.  Follow the above guidelines, but always strive above
all to make your writing uniquely your own.

Style, Speaking of Courage, Notes

-->

Group One (Speaking of Courage):

(1) To begin with, 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?

(2) Why does Norman Bowker still feel inadequate with seven metals? And why is Norman's father such a presence in his mental life? Would it really change Norman's life if he had eight metals, the silver star, etc.?

(3) What is the more difficult problem for Norman--the lack of the silver star or the death of Kiowa? Which does he consider more and why?

(5) Why is Norman unable to relate to anyone at home? More importantly, why doesn't he even try?

Group Two (Notes):

(6) In "Notes," Tim O'Brien receives a letter from Norman Bowker, the main character in "Speaking of Courage." Why does O'Brien choose to include excerpts of this seventeen page letter in this book? What does it accomplish?

(7) Consider for a moment that the letter might be made-up, a work of fiction. Why include it then?

(8) In "Notes," Tim O'Brien says, "You start sometimes with an incident that truly happened, like the night in the shit field, and you carry it forward by inventing incidents that did not in fact occur but that nonetheless help to clarify and explain it." What does this tell you about O'Brien's understanding of the way fiction relates to real life?

Compare and contrast possible versions of Kiowa's death in Speaking of Courage and the end of "Notes".  Who is responsible?

Group Three (In the Field): 

1.  Explain why the following people feel they are to blame for Kiowa’s death?

Lt. Jimmy Cross

The young soldier searching the field for his girlfriend’s picture

Tim O’Brien

Discuss O'Brien's comment that, "When a man died, there had to be blame" (198).

What, in the end, is the significance of the shitfield story (or stories)?

Continue Man I Killed/Ambush

Continue work from yesterday

Go over literary analysis and first passage on packets

Homework:      Read "Notes" and "Style"


More help with literary terms:
http://freepdfz.com/pdf/a-p-literary-terms-aubrey-independent-school-district-31253848.html

The Man I Killed/Ambush

Thematic Search--Things They Carried

GROUP A:

Spark Notes analysis:

"O’Brien illustrates the ambiguity and complexity of Vietnam by alternating explicit references to beauty and gore. The butterfly and the tiny blue flowers he mentions show the mystery and suddenness of death in the face of pristine natural phenomena. O’Brien’s observations of his victim lying on the side of the road—his jaw in his throat and his upper lip gone—emphasize the unnaturalness of war amid nature. The contrast of images is an incredibly ironic one that suggests the tragedy of death amid so much beauty. However, the presence of the butterfly and the tiny blue flowers also suggests that life goes on even despite such unspeakable tragedy. After O’Brien killed the Vietnamese soldier, the flowers didn’t shrivel up, and the butterfly didn’t fly away. They stayed and found their home around the tragedy. In this way, like the story of Curt Lemon’s death, “The Man I Killed” is a story about the beauty of life rather than the gruesomeness of death."

Find contrasting images of beauty and gore in the chapter.  Do you agree with this analysis?
 Where else in the novel do you find images of the beauty of life contrasted with the gruesomeness of death?




Group B:

Again, from Spark notes:


“The Man I Killed” sets up ideas that are addressed in “Ambush,” just as “The Things They Carried” sets up ideas that are addressed in “Love.” The refrains of “The Man I Killed,” such as “he was a short, slender man of about twenty,” are constant, adding to the continuity of the storytelling. Unlike “The Man I Killed,” which seems to take place in real time, “Ambush” is already a memory story—one with perspective, history, and a sense of life’s continuation. As such, O’Brien uses his narrative to clear up some of the questions that we might have about the somewhat ambiguous version of the story in “The Man I Killed.” But O’Brien’s memory is crystal clear. He remembers how he lobbed the grenade and that it seemed to freeze in the air for a moment, perhaps indicating his momentary regret even before the explosion detonated. He has a clear vision of the man’s actual death that he probably could not have articulated so close to the occurrence. O’Brien’s simile about the man seeming to jerk upward, as though pulled by invisible wires, suggests that the actions of the men in Vietnam were not entirely voluntary. They were propelled by another power outside of them—the power of guilt and responsibility and impulse and regret.


Where else in the novel do you find references to the power of guilt , responsibility and regret?

Group 3 Tim O'Brien discussing "Ambush":

Male audience member (Frank Grzyb): Hello? I've read several of your books, and very curious about how much is real and how much isn't real. That's the first question. I find a lot to be real; you may have a different answer. The second question is I read a story that I find highly improbable, but it could be factual, knowing how weird Vietnam was, and that was, basically, about a guy who called and got his girlfriend to come into country, and she ended up in a Green Beret outfit, and I said, this could never happen, but Vietnam was so strange, it was liable to happen.
Tim O'Brien: Yeah. Well, I'll respond in two ways. One - excuse me, my cold is hitting me now - (coughs) Excuse me. Number one, uh, the literal truth is ultimately, to me, irrelevant. What matters to me is the heart-truth. I'm going to die, you're all going to die, the earth is going to flame out when the sun goes. We all know the facts. The truth - I mean, does it matter what the real Hamlet was like, or the real Ulysses - does it matter? Well, I don't think so. In the fundamental human way, the ways we think about in our dream-lives, and our moral lives, and our spiritual lives, what matters is what happens in our hearts. A good lie, if nobly told, for good reason, seems to me preferable to a very boring and pedestrian truth, which can lie, too. That's one way of answering.
I'll give you a more practical answer. The last piece I read for you, it is very, and it does approximate an event that happened in my life, and it's hard for me to read to you, at the same time it wasn't literally true in all its detail. It wasn't a hand grenade, it was a, was a rifle thing. We had circled the village one night - called it cordoning the village - and this stuff never worked in Vietnam-those vets who are here know what I'm talking about-these things never worked, but it did, once. We circled the village and we drove the enemy out in daylight, and three enemy soldiers came marching-the silhouettes like you're at a carnival shoot - and about eighteen of us or twenty of us were lined up along a paddy dike. We all opened up from, I don't know, eighteen yards or twenty yards away. We, really, we killed one of them; the others we couldn't find, which shows you what bad shots we were on top of everything else. Well, I will never know whether I killed anyone, that man in particular - how do I know? I hope I didn't. But I'll never know.
The thing is, you have to, though, when you return from a war, you have to assume responsibility. I was there, I took part in it, I did pull the trigger, and whether I literally killed a man or not is finally irrelevant to me. What matters is I was part of it all, the machine that did it, and do feel a sense of obligation, and through that story I can share some of my feelings, when I walked over that corpse that day, and looked down at it, wondering, thinking, "dear God, dear God, please don't let it have been my bullet, Dear God, please." Um, that's the second answer.

What does this reveal about the purpose of these two stories-- "The Man I Killed" and "Ambush"-- in the novel?

QUIZ/PACKET REVIEW/READ

Quiz and re-quiz on literary rhetorical terms

Go over Packet #1 answers and return packets

Read through the chapter "Ambush" for discussion tomorrow!

Have a great day!

PSAT Meeting/AP Packet #1 due

Summer book Discussions

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How to lead a discussion

1. Toss one question at a time out to the group. Use our LitLovers Resources below to help you with specific questions.

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2. Select a number of questions, write each on an index card, and pass them out. Each member (or team of 2 or 3) takes a card and answers the question.

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3. Use a prompt (an object) related to the story. It can help stimulate members' thinking about some aspect of the story. It's adult show & tell.

(Think maps, photographs, paintings, food, apparel, a music recording, a film sequence.)

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4. Pick out a specific passage from the book—a description, an idea, a line of dialogue—and ask members to comment on it.

(Consider how a passage reflects a character...or the work's central meaning...or members' lives or personal beliefs.)

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5. Choose a primary character and ask members to comment on him or her.

(Think character traits, motivations, how he/she affects the story's events and characters, or revealing quotations.)

The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is the most famous novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. But, what does it mean? Why is the book so controversial (banned/challenged)? What does the book have to say about the state of society? Here are a few questions for study and discussion, related to The Great Gatsby.

Questions for Study & Discussion

• What is important about the title of The Great Gatsby? Answer
• What adaptations were made of The Great Gatsby? Is there a movie? Of the versions you've seen (or know about), which one do you prefer? Answer
• What are the conflicts in The Great Gatsby? What types of conflict (physical, moral, intellectual, or emotional) are in this novel? Are they resolved?
• How does F. Scott Fitzgerald reveal character in The Great Gatsby?
• What are some themes in The Great Gatsby? Symbols? How do they relate to the plot and characters?
• Is Gatsby consistent in his actions in The Great Gatsby? Why did he change his name? Do you ever find him fake (or contrived)? Is he a fully developed character? How? Why?
  
 
• Is Gatsby a strong character in The Great Gatsby? Is he "great"? Do find any of the other characters stronger? How? Why?
• Do you find the characters likable? Would you want to meet the characters?
• Does the novel, The Great Gatsby, end the way you expected? How? Why?
• What is the central/primary purpose of The Great Gatsby? Is the purpose important or meaningful?
• How essential is the setting to The Great Gatsby? Could the story have taken place anywhere else? In any other time?
• What is the role of women in The Great Gatsby? Is love relevant? Are relationships meaningful?
• Why is The Great Gatsby controversial? Why has it been banned/challenged? Answer
• How does religion figure into the novel, The Great Gatsby? How would the novel be different if religion (or spirituality) played a more prominent role in the text?
• How does The Great Gatsby relate to current society? How well did it represent the Jazz Age (society and literature at the time it was published)? Is the novel still relevant?
• Would you recommend The Great Gatsby to a friend?

Madonnas of Leningrad
Discussion Questions 
1. The working of memory is a key theme of this novel. As a young woman, remembering the missing paintings is a deliberate act of survival and homage for Marina. In old age, however, she can no longer control what she remembers or forgets. "More distressing than the loss of words is the way that time contracts and fractures and drops her in unexpected places." How has Dean used the vagaries of Marina's memory to structure the novel? How does the narrative itself mimic the ways in which memory functions?
2. Sometimes, Marina finds consolations within the loss of her short-term memory. "One of the effects of this deterioration seems to be that as the scope of her attention narrows, it also focuses like a magnifying glass on smaller pleasures that have escaped her notice for years." Is aging merely an accumulation of deficits or are there gifts as well?
3. The narrative is interspersed with single-page chapters describing a room or a painting in the Hermitage Museum. Who is describing these paintings and what is the significance of the paintings chosen? How is each interlude connected to the chapter that follows?
4. The historical period of The Madonnas of Leningrad begins with the outbreak of war. How is war portrayed in this novel? How is this view of World War II different from or similar to other accounts you have come across?
5. Even though she says of herself that she is not a "believer," in what ways is Marina spiritual? Discuss Marina's faith: how does her spirituality compare with conventional religious belief? How do religion and miracles figure in this novel? What are the miracles that occur in The Madonnas of Leningrad?
A central mystery revolves around Andre's conception. Marina describes a remarkable incident on the roof of the Hermitage when one of the statues from the roof of the Winter Palace, "a naked god," came to life, though she later discounts this as a hallucination. In her dotage, she tells her daughter-in-law that Andre's father is Zeus. Dmitri offers other explanations: she may have been raped by a soldier or it's possible that their only coupling before he went off to the front resulted in a son. What do you think actually happened? Is it a flaw or a strength of the novel that the author doesn't resolve this question?
6. At the end of Marina's life, Helen admits that "once she had thought that she might discover some key to her mother if only she could get her likeness right, but she has since learned that the mysteries of another person only deepen, the longer one looks." How well do we ever know our parents? Are there things you've learned about your parents' past that helped you feel you knew them better?
7. In much the same way that Marina is struggling with getting old, her daughter, Helen, is struggling with disappointments and regrets often associated with middle-age: her marriage has failed, her son is moving away, she may never get any recognition as an artist, and last but not least, she is losing a life-long battle with her weight. Are her feelings of failure the result of poor choices and a bad attitude or are such feelings an inevitable part of the human condition?
8. n a sense, the novel has two separate but parallel endings: the young Marina giving the cadets a tour of the museum, and the elderly Marina giving the carpenter a tour of an unfinished house. What is the function of this coda? How would the novel be different if it ended with the cadets' tour?
9. What adjectives would you use to describe The Madonnas of Leningrad? Given the often bleak subject matter—war, starvation, dementia—is the novel's view of the world depressing?
(Questions issued by publisher.)


Secret Life of Bees


1. Were you surprised to learn that T. Ray used to be different, that once he truly loved Deborah? How do you think Deborah's leaving affected him? Did it shed any light on why T. Ray was so cruel and abusive to Lily?
2. Had you ever heard of "kneeling on grits"? What qualities did Lily have that allowed her to survive, endure, and eventually thrive, despite T. Ray?
3. Who is the queen bee in this story?
4. Lily's relationship to her dead mother was complex, ranging from guilt to idealization, to hatred, to acceptance. What happens to a daughter when she discovers her mother once abandoned her? Is Lily right-would people generally rather die than forgive? Was it harder for Lily to forgive her mother or herself?
5. Lily grew up without her mother, but in the end she finds a house full of them. Have you ever had a mother figure in your life who wasn't your true mother? Have you ever had to leave home to find home?
6. What compelled Rosaleen to spit on the three men's shoes? What does it take for a person to stand up with conviction against brutalizing injustice? What did you like best about Rosaleen?
7. Had you ever heard of the Black Madonna? What do you think of the story surrounding the Black Madonna in the novel? How would the story be different if it had been a picture of a white Virgin Mary? Do you know women whose lives have been deepened or enriched by a connection to an empowering Divine Mother?
8. Why is it important that women come together? What did you think of the "Calendar Sisters" and the Daughters of Mary? How did being in the company of this circle of females transform Lily?
9. May built a wailing wall to help her come to terms with the pain she felt. Even though we don't have May's condition, do we also need "rituals," like wailing walls, to help us deal with our grief and suffering?
10. How would you describe Lily and Zach's relationship? What drew them together? Did you root for them to be together?
11. Project into the future. Does Lily ever see her father again? Does she become a beekeeper? A writer? What happens to Rosaleen? What happens to Lily and Zach? Who would Zach be today?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

A Lesson Before Dying

 

Discussion Questions
1. All the characters in A Lesson Before Dying are motivated by a single word: "hog." Jefferson's attorney has compared him to a hog; Miss Emma wants Grant to prove that her godson is not a hog; and Jefferson at first eats the food she has sent him on his knees, because "that's how a old hog eat." How are words used both to humiliate and to redeem the characters in this novel?
2. Grant's task is to affirm that Jefferson is not a hog, but a man. The mission is doubly difficult because Grant isn't sure he knows what a man is. What definition of manhood, or humanity, does A Lesson Before Dying provide? Why is manhood a subversive notion within the book's milieu?
3. At various points in the book Gaines draws analogies between Jefferson and Jesus. One of the first questions Jefferson asks his tutor concerns the significance of Christmas: "That's when He was born, or that's when he died?" Jefferson is executed eight days after Easter. In what other ways is this parallel developed? In particular, discuss the scriptural connotations of the word "lesson."
4. For all the book's religious symbolism, the central character is a man without faith. Grant's refusal to attend church has deeply hurt his aunt and antagonized Reverend Ambrose, whose religion Grant at first dismisses as a sham. Yet at the book's climax he admits that Ambrose "is braver than I, " and he has his pupils pray in the hours before Jefferson's death. What kind of faith does Grant acquire in the course of this book? Why does the Reverend emerge as the stronger of the two men?
5. One of the novel's paradoxes is that Ambrose's faith—which Grant rejects because it is also the white man's—enables him to stand up against the white man's "justice." How do we resolve this paradox? How has faith served African-Americans as a source of personal empowerment and an axis of communal resistance?
6. Grant believes that black men in Louisiana have only three choices: to die violently, to be "brought down to the level of beasts, " or "to run and run." How does the way in which Gaines articulates these grim choices—and suggests an alternative to them—make A Lesson Before Dying applicable not only to Louisiana in 1948 but to the United States in the 1990s?
7. Women play a significant role in the book. Examine the scenes between Grant and Tante Lou, Grant and Vivian, and Jefferson and Miss Emma, and discuss the impetus that Gaines's women provide his male characters. In what ways do these interactions reflect the roles of black women within their families and in African-American society?
8. A Lesson Before Dying is concerned with obligation and commitment. Discuss this theme as it emerges in the exchanges between Emma Glenn and the Pichots, Grant and Vivian, and Grant and the Reverend Ambrose. What are the debts these people owe each other? In what ways do they variously try to honor, evade, or exploit them?
9. Like Faulkner and Joyce, Gaines has been acclaimed for his evocation of place. In A Lesson Before Dying his accomplishment is all the more impressive because of the book's brevity. What details in this book evoke its setting, and what is the relation between its setting and its themes?
10. From the manslaughter that begins this novel to the judicial murder at its close, death is a constant presence in A Lesson Before Dying. We are repeatedly reminded of all the untimely, violent deaths that have preceded Jefferson's and, in all likelihood, will follow it. Why then is Jefferson's death so disturbing to this book's black characters, and even to some of its white ones? What does Jefferson's death accomplish that his life could not?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

Interview with Tim O'Brien/More background info about The Things They Carried

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/video/flv/generic.html?s=news01s3d8eqe5c

A website with notes and analysis of The Things They Carried :

https://sites.google.com/site/towardtheexaminedlife/sophomore-page/things-they-carried

Burke's Pentad:

I. Actors/Characters

1. Choose 5 of the most important characters from the book. Choose one key action for each of those characters. What does that action tell you about the kind of person he or she is?
2. What do Elroy Berdahl and Kiowa have in common? What roles do they play in relation to the other characters?
3. O’Brien provides only a few female characters in the book. List them and describe their role or purpose in the narrative. What conclusions can you draw based on the evidence you discover?

II. Agency/How

1. How are the conditions different for soldiers fighting in the Vietnam War vs the conditions for those fighting the Iraq War? How might these differing conditions increase or decrease the sense of isolation, alienation, and loneliness for the soldiers?
2. How did Ted Lavendar, Curt Lemon, the VietCong soldier, and Kiowa die? What do their deaths have in common? How does Linda’s death fit in?
3. Describe the range of reactions the soldiers exhibit to their experiences. How do they cope with these experiences?

III. Act/What

1. Describe 3 actions that led to deadly consequences and explain how the characters involved were affected by those actions.
2. Lt. Cross burns Martha’s letters & photos at the end of "The Things They Carried." What could Martha symbolize, and therefore what could Lt. Cross’s action mean?
3. What do Tim’s actions demonstrate about his personality over the course of the book? Based on his actions, what can you say about his character, values, beliefs?

 IV. Scene/Where-When:

1. How does the landscape of Vietnam play a role in these stories? Give examples.
2. If these stories, which take place in the late sixties, took place today, how would they be different? What has changed, especially in terms of our expectations about gender roles and the emotional lives of men?
3. Find at least 4 examples of juxtaposed images of beauty and horror. What can you conclude from these examples?

V. Motive/Why

1. Why did O’Brien go to the Vietnam War? Why does he consider this an act of cowardice? What do you think motivates young men and women to go to war today?
2. What motivates the soldiers’ actions? List three actions and try to explain the motivation in each case. What is the role of masculine gender expectations in their actions?
3. Why did O’Brien write this book? Why do you think he wrote it as a "work of fiction" rather than as an autobiographical work, or a memoir?