Last Set of Writing Prompts for The Things They Carried

Please note that all citations are from the 1998 trade paperback edition.
YOU MUST RESPOND TO THOSE PROMPTS PRECEDED WITH AN ASTERISK (*) and any three you choose for a total of five. In order not to overload you with the writing prompts and the last two essays, I will check the writing prompts and your blogs over spring break.


*1. In order for a literary work to succeed, the reader must willingly suspend his/her disbelief. By accepting a work of fiction as fiction, the reader makes a silent pact with the author, agreeing to “go along” with the story, though it not be true. This compact occurs again and again with movie-goers and play-goers, even t.v. viewers. The audience agrees [silently] that the story they are about to see is not real, though it may be “based on a true story.” The Soloist and The Blind Side are two such recent movies. Think of one of those OR another movie you may have seen that is “based on a true story.” Identify a movie of your choosing that falls into the category, “based on a true story.” Summarize the movie in one or two sentences. In another couple of sentences, relate your opinion of the movie. Finally, explain whether or not the words “based on a true story” enhanced your viewing or detracted from the experience. Why?

2. How would you explain the semi-truths told in The Things They Carried to a student about to begin a second session class? What would you tell him/her to look for as he/she read the book? What would you say were the most important aspects to “be sure to pick up on”?

3. We encounter paradoxical truths daily. As one student explained in the first set of writing prompts, cell phones enable us to be connected locally and globally. We can be reached almost anywhere, at almost any time—as long as our phones have the signal strength. The negative side is that we can be reached almost anywhere, at almost any time. Ironically, the more simplified our lives become, the more complex they become as well. Explain at least three additional paradoxes that most of us encounter. (Key word: explain – explain both sides of the paradoxical coin.) How is understanding paradox important in understanding this novel?

4. Which story in The Things They Carried was your favorite? Why? Which was your LEAST favorite? Why? Whether you loved or hated the whole book, you must choose one of each for this prompt. Which of the men do you most identify or sympathize with? Why? Was there a character you just didn’t like? Why?

5. Do you agree or disagree with the narrator when he says, “ . . . this too is true: stories can save us” (223). What does O’Brien, the author AND the narrator, mean when he says, “I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth” (179). Explain the last story in this novel, “The Lives of the Dead,” in relation to the book as a whole. What does the story of Linda have to do with a novel about a group of men in the Vietnam war?

*6. Draw at least three valid inferences, supported by evidence, about the narrator of “On the Rainy River.” Draw at least three valid inferences, supported by evidence, about the narrator of “The Ghost Soldiers.” Account for the differences in the narrator. – Note that this could become an excellent topic for an essay topic over the novel, though it would be phrased more like ‘Trace the development of the narrator/soldier Tim O’Brien.’

7. After reading this novel, do you come away with any new thoughts about “truth”? Based on the author’s own criteria, is this novel a “true war story”? Would you recommend this novel to a friend, whether he/she was in English 1102 or not? Why or why not?