the things they carried chapter one. vocabulary what things did they carry physical items (weapons,...
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Vocabulary What Things Did They Carry Physical Items (weapons, supplies, clothes, & personal items) Psychological (fears & superstitions) Ghosts & Memories TRANSCRIPT
The Things They Carried
CHAPTER ONE
Vocabulary
What Things Did They Carry
Physical Items (weapons, supplies, clothes, & personal items)
Psychological (fears & superstitions)
Ghosts & Memories
Characters are Defined by What They Carry….
Rank Specialty Necessity Mission Superstition
Why the emphasis on what things weigh?
What did they carry? Why important?
15-20 Pounds:P-38 Can Opener,Pocket Knife (1 lb),Heat Tab, Salt Tablets,Wrist Watch, Dog Tags,Mosquito Repellents,Chewing Gum, Candy, Kool Aid Packets,Cigarettes,Lighter, Matches,Sewing Kit,Military Payment Certificate,C-Rations (2 lbs),2-3 Canteens of Water.
Examples of things characters carry:
Rat Kiley: morphine, plasma, malaria tablets, surgical
tape (comic books, M&Ms) Symbolism of his name?
Kiowa: Bible, hatchet, & moccasins Lt. Jimmy Cross: maps, binoculars,
compass, code books, .45 pistolWhat else does Jimmy carry? Symbolism of his name?
Examples of things characters carry:
Sanders: PRC-25 Radio, condoms & brass knuckles
Symbolism of his name?
Bowker: carried a thumb & a diary (what is significance? What can we guess will happen based on these items?
“O’Brien”: author vs character
“They all carried ghosts” (9).
Lt. Jimmie Cross: (Martha vs his Men): (8, 11)*
Ted Lavender:(extra ammo, dope, tranquilizers): (6)*
Norman Bowker: (pressure from dad to earn a medal): (34)*
Superstitions Jimmy Cross: Pebble from Martha
Dave Jensen: Rabbit’s foot
Henry Dobbins: Girlfriend’s stockings
Kiowa: Bible
Norman Bowker: Thumb from corpse
Vocabulary
Protagonist The central figure of a story; The
character with the lead role. Is narrator reliable? Fiction vs Nonfiction (look at dedication,
subtitle, & protagonist)Believable vs UnbelievablePurpose in Telling Story
back
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 – 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 80.8Buddhist 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
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 The author Tim did
actually go to Vietnam and really was in the Alpha Company, but is writing a fictional account.
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: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
Lit devices
Literary Devices found in The Things They Carried
ImageryMood
Point of ViewCharacterization
SymbolismMetaphor
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: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 ProcedureCO N Commanding OfficerPFC N Private First Class (rank)RTO N Radio Transmissions OfficerLP N Language/Listening PatrolCS N Tear gasMRE N Meal ready to eatVC N Viet Cong