The Things They Carried

Blackboard is acting up right now, so I am going to post the prompts on the blog until further notice. See you on Tuesday.

Prompt #2 – “The Things They Carried”

Please choose one of the following questions and write a one-page response. Please come prepared to discuss all of the questions and all of the prompts, even the ones you do not choose to write about. This will ensure quality class discussions and will also prepare you for future writing assignments.

1. At one point, O’Brien writes that “Imagination was a killer.” What do you think this means?

2. Talk about repetition in the story. What kind of things get repeated? How does repetition figure into the story itself and to the way O’Brien tells it? Why is this significant?

3. Why do you think O’Brien spend so much time detailing all of the things that the men carried with them? Is this really important to the story? Use examples in your response.

4. Why do the soldiers do things like kick corpses, cut off thumbs, and make jokes about people dying? Isn’t this offensive? Does it make you think less of them?

5. Why do you think Jimmy Cross burns Martha’s letters? Is this a symbolic act of some kind? An act of anger? Explain.

6. In the final scene, as Jimmy Cross sees Martha in the rain, O’Brien writes a two-word paragraph: “He understood.” What does Jimmy Cross understand?

7. How is this story different than other things you have read or seen about Vietnam? Or, if you have not read or seen anything about Vietnam, what is your impression of that war/conflict after reading this story?

8. Is this story about war? If you think so, what does it say about war? Is there a moral? If you decide it’s not about war, then what is it about?