The Things They Carried

An introduction to Tim O’Brien and his fictional account of the Vietnam War

Vocabulary

Prior Knowledge (Vocabulary)

Fabricated Psychological warfare Propaganda Communists Protagonist

Vocabulary

Fabricated Made up, created.

– The child fabricated a lie when asked how the lamp became broken.

– The child made up a lie when asked how the lamp became broken.

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Vocabulary

Psychological Warfare Tactics that use propaganda to try to

demoralize an enemy in war, usually including the civilian population

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Vocabulary

Propaganda Something communicated in a biased

way in order to shape or change the ideas of a targeted audience

information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc.

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Vocabulary

Communists One who believes in a system of

government in which the state plans and controls the economy shares all goods equally with the people

Create closed state economies that barely trade with capitalist countries

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Vocabulary

Protagonist The central figure of a story; The

character with the lead role.

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Vietnam

Relevant Facts About the Vietnam War

No fixed date that the US entered into war with Vietnam

Series of steps from 1950 – 1965

Vietnam

Relevant Facts about the Vietnam War

Eisenhower fabricated a government of South Vietnam– Advisers to psychological warfare against

North Vietnam

Vietnam

Vietnam Timeline– 1950 – Truman sent economic and military aid to

the French who were trying to retain hold on their Indochina colony.

– 1954 – The defeated French conceded to a communist government north of the 17th parallel.

– 1960 – JFK approves Aid– 1964 – US began sending combat troops as a

result of The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.

Vietnam

Vietnam Timeline– 1965 – 1966 Military escalation because S.

Vietnam couldn’t handle things– 1967 – Draft began. Antiwar Protests happening

across US– 1969 –My Lai Massacre where US soldiers kill a

village full of civilians– 1972 – Ceasefire– 1973 – Paris Peace Agreement

Click here for an online timeline offered by pbs.org

Vietnam

Vietnam Demographics

Location Religion People

Vietnam

Vietnam Demographics Location – South of China, East of Laos and

Cambodia, West of South China Sea

Here is an interesting interactive map of places mentioned in the book

Vietnam

Religion Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism,

Christianity, and Tam Giao (tri-religion, …)

Religions

0

20

40

60

80

100

Percentage ofpracticing members

9.3 6.7 3.2 80.8

Buddhist Catholic Other* None

*Other religions include: Hoa Hao (1.5%), Cao Dai (1.1%), Protestant (.5%, and Muslim (.1%)

Vietnam

People of Vietnam80% ethnic Vietnamese

20% - 50+ different ethnic minority groups, hill tribes

Languages spoken: Vietnamese, Chinese, English, French, Russian

What Do You Need to Know About the Book Before

Reading It?

It is ALL fiction! Facts are not important!

Emotional effect of incidents is what is important.

Tim O’Brien (author) vs. “Tim O’Brien” (character,

narrator) Protagonist and sometime narrator is

“Tim O’Brien”. This “Tim O’Brien” in the book is NOT REAL.

Even when “Tim O’Brien” talks directly to the reader, it is the fictional “Tim”.

Example of the narrator “Tim O’Brien” speaking directly to

the reader

“Now and then, when I tell this story [about the baby water buffalo], someone will come up to me afterward and say she liked it. It’s always a woman. “…. What I should do”, she’ll say, “is put it all behind me. Find new stories to tell.”

“I wont say it but I’ll think it.“I’ll picture Rat Kiley’s face, his grief, and I’ll think,

You dumb cooze.“Because she wasn’t listening.“It wasn’t a war story. It was a love story.”

~ “How to Tell a True War Story”, pgs 84 - 85

Tim O'Brien

Tim O’Brien

The author Tim did actually go to Vietnam and really was in the Alpha Company, but is writing a fictional account.

Lit devices

Literary Devices found in The Things They Carried

Imagery

Mood

Point of View

Characterization

Symbolism

Metaphor

Irony

Lit devices

Vivid language that puts a picture in the mind of the reader

Example:– “His jaw was in his throat, his upper lip

and teeth were gone, his one eye was shut, his other eye was a star-shaped hole…” (pg. 124)

Lit devices

Feeling author wants the reader to have while reading

Example:– In the story “Ghost Soldiers” Tim wants

the reader to feel the fear of being on night watch.

Lit devices

The attitude or outlook of a narrator or character.

Example:– The narrator “Tim O’Brien” is against war

and thinks himself a coward for going to Vietnam

Lit devices

What the characters are like; their personalities

Example: – Henry Dobbins is superstitious and

believes in luck because he carries extra rations and his girlfriend’s pantyhose.

Lit devices

Compare two things that are unlike in any way (without using like or as)

Example:– The disjointed telling of the story is a

metaphor for life as a soldier in Vietnam

Lit devices

An object that represents a larger idea

Example– The Silver Star is a medal that

symbolizes courage and honor

Lit devices

The opposite of what is expected happens

Example:– When 2 characters are goofing off and

having a good time, a bomb goes off and kills one.

Tim O'Brien

Tim O'Brien biography:The Early Years

Born in Austin on Oct. 1, 1946 and grew up in a small town in Minnesota– He shares this birth date with several of

his characters Dad was an insurance salesman Mom was an elementary school

teacher

Tim O'Brien

Tim O'Brien Biography:College Life

Political science major at Macalester College, attended peace vigils and war protests

Graduated in 1968

Tim O'Brien

Tim O'Brien Biography:To Go to War?

Received his draft notice upon graduation

Was against the war: hated Boy Scouts, bugs, and rifles.

Considered deserting to Canada once he received his classification as an infantryman

Tim O'Brien

Tim O'Brien Biography:In Vietnam

Assigned to the 3rd Platoon, Alpha Company, 5th battalion, 46th Infantry as a foot soldier

Served in Vietnam from 1969-1970 Returned home with a Purple Heart

– Was wounded by shrapnel from a hand grenade

Tim O'Brien

Tim O'Brien Biography:Views on Vietnam

Now believes it was an act of cowardice to go to war instead of fleeing to Canada

Was 22 years old and feared the disapproval of his family and friends, his townspeople and country

Hated every minute of Vietnam

Tim O'Brien

Tim O'Brien Biography:Life after Vietnam

After returning to the states, he became a grad student at Harvard.

Left Harvard to become a newspaper reporter for The Washington Post.

Began writing fiction about Vietnam

Tim O'Brien

Works by Tim O’Brien If I Die in Combat (1973) Northern Lights (1975) Going after Cacciato (1978) The Nuclear Age (1985) The Things They Carried (1990) In the Lake of the Woods (1994)

Tim O'Brien

Tim O'Brien Biography:Current Whereabouts

Is currently a visiting professor and chair at Southwest Texas State University where he teaches in the Creative Writing Program

Tim O'Brien

Tim O’Brien Claims he still gets calls from people,

asking questions, offering their own opinions about what happened.

They want to know, missing the point of the novel, that life often does not offer solutions or resolutions, that it is impossible to know completely what secrets lurk within people

Vocabulary

Abbreviations found in The Things They Carried

Abbreviation Part of speech

Definition

SOP N Standard Operating Procedure

CO N Commanding Officer

PFC N Private First Class (rank)

RTO N Radio Transmissions Officer

LP N Language/Listening Patrol

CS N Tear gas

MRE N Meal ready to eat

VC N Viet Cong

Resources

http://www.indexmundi.com/vietnam/demographics_profile.html

http://www.illyria.com/tobsites.html

pbs.org