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The Things They Carried
by Tim O'Brien |
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| Publishing Data |
Published 1990.
Sections from the book have won a National Magazine Award and an O. Henry Prize, and have been included in Best American Short Stories. |
Many of the chapters first appeared in periodicals:
 The title story, "The Things They Carried," first appeared in Esquire in 1986.
"How To Tell a True War Story" was first published in Esquire in 1987; O'Brien says that this story is the genesis for the entire book.
"Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong" was first published in Esquire in 1989. O"Brien says that this story is based on a story told to him by a medic in Vietnam who was "desperate to make me believe him."
"Speaking of Courage" was first published in Massachusetts Review in Summer 1976. O'Brien originally intended this piece to be part of his earlier Vietnam novel Going After Cacciato but eventually decided that it didn't really belong in that book.
"The Lives of the Dead" was first published in Esquire, January 1989.
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| Preview |
| The Things They Carried is a series of interconnected stories about a character named Tim O'Brien and his experiences of the Vietnam War. |
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| Background |
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Reviewers are split on whether to call this book a novel or a collection of short stories.
It has been called “a unified narrative with chapters that stand perfectly on their own” (Coffey) and a series of “22 discontinuous sections” (Bawer, quoted by Calloway).
O’Brien says simply that it is “a work of fiction”; he has also said that it’s a “sort of half novel, half group of stories. It’s part nonfiction, too” (Naparsteck as quoted by Calloway). |
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| Discussion Guide |
| Characterize the narrator. How reliable is he? Why is he telling these stories? |
| How realistically do you think the experience of the Vietnam War is portrayed in this book? Why? |
Re the first section, "The Things They Carried":
In what ways is the verb "to carry" used in this story?
Why is it important to specify how much everything weighs in this story?
Why does Lt. Jimmy Cross burn his love letters at the end of the story?
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Re "On the Rainy River":
What does the narrator learn from his sojourn with Elroy Bardahl?
Why does the narrator decide to allow himself to be drafted?
Why does he say that he was a coward not to defect? Do you agree or disagree?
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Re "The Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong":
How is this story stylistically different from the other stories in this book?
How realistic is this story?
How disturbing is this story? Why?
What is the point being made by the comments of the men on the way the story is told?
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Several sections of this book focus on the way to tell a true war story.
"How To Tell a True War Story" relates six variants on how Curt Lemon was killed.
Describe your reaction to the descriptions of Lemon's death.
Why is Rat Kiley so disdainful of Lemon's sister?
Describe your reactions to what the men do to the baby water buffalo. What is their motivation here?
Three sections--"Speaking of Courage," "Notes," and "In the Field," relate versions of and reactions to Kiowa's death.
Why does O'Brien keep revisiting Kiowa's death from different angles?
Whose fault was Kiowa's death? How do you know?
What do these retellings of a single incident say about why one tells stories?
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| Why is the last section of the book about the narrator as a child? |
Characterize the women in the novel
Lieutenant Cross's girlfriend Martha
Lemon's sister
Mary Anne
Linda
How are they alike and how are they different? |
Are the stories and characters in this book real or fictional or somewhere in between? Does it matter? |
| Are the stories and characters in this book true? |
| What is the role of story and imagination in life, according to this book? |
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Novels
© 2005 Dr. Agatha Taormina
Last Revised:
November 5, 2009
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