LP TASK: Authorial choices & their effects in "The Things They Carried" (Ch.

1)
Expanding upon your Google Classroom post from March 1, write a paragraph here
about the effect of O'Brien's writing style in the first chapter, mentioning at least two
authorial decisions/literary devices

- "First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carried letters from a girl named Martha, a junior
at Mount Sebastian College in New Jersey. They were not love letters, but
Lieutenant Cross was hoping, so he kept them folded in plastic at the bottom of
his Rucksack." (page 1)

- More than anything, he wanted Martha to love him as he loved her, but the letters
were mostly chatty, elusive on the matter of love" (pg1)

O’Brien opens the chapter focusing mainly on a character named Lieutenant Jimmy
Cross. He expresses throughout the chapter that Jimmy’s most fervent wish is for
Martha to feel the same type of love that he feels towards her. Martha is so important to
Lieutenant Jimmy that he carries a picture of her and remembers every detail of her.
Martha is a representation and symbol of dreams and hope for Jimmy. Jimmy Cross
unconsciously views Martha as an escape from war,while constantly thinking of her.

Write 200-400 words about what Tim O'Brien says the Vietnam War WAS, since it
"WASN'T all terror and violence." Talk about the chapter title "Spin" and why you think
the author repeats that he's forty-three years old and talks about writing the story. If
you found evidence of metafiction in this chapter, include that.

O’Brien focuses this chapter on letting the reader know that he is telling the story. He
“wakes up” the reader by telling his current age and how he feels at the moment he is
writing.This particular way of writing is a great example of metafiction.The chapter is
divided into little stories that somehow prove the reader that war is not all about killing
and death. War is also about sweetness, like that time where Kiowa gave a candy to a
Vietnames child. Kiowa sees the poor state of the child and says that war sucks. Here,
Kiowa admits that war can be crude and unfair with innocent people, as it is with this
child. This gives the reader a feeling that the soldiers have a sense of humanity, and that
they feel sorry for the victims of this horrible war. O’Brien also proves the fact that war
can also be comic and fun at occasions. Like that time where Mitchell Sanders took the
time to gather his lice in an envelope and send it to the U.S.A where they drafted him.
Then, O’Brien recalls the moments when two soldiers used to play checkers and chess
and the others would sometimes sit and quietly observe. He also states that war could
be utterly boring; “...you'd feel the boredom dripping inside you like a leaky faucet…”. In
conclusion, according to Tim, war can be entertaining, fun, sweet, boring, and much
more than just killing and death.

Write 150-300 words about the effect to which O’Brien employs a particular literary
device in this chapter. Be specific, quote the text, and use active voice to credit the
author for his writing choices.

"This is one story. I've never told before. Not to anyone. Not to my parents, not to my
brother or sister, not even to my wife." (pg.39)

When O’Brien employs first person narration, he evidences the use of metafiction.
O’Brien includes himself in this particular chapter and connects with the reader by
narrating a very personal experience he lived when he was drafted. The effect on the
reader is a sense of suspense, curiosity, and connection with the author, due to the fact
that the author is clearly stating that he never told that story before.What makes even a
stronger connection with the reader, is that O’Brien states that he never told it to his wife
nor other close familiars.

"For more than twenty years I've had to live with it, feeling the shame, trying to push it
away, and so by this act of remembrance, by putting the facts down on paper, I'm hoping
to relieve at least some of the pressure on my dreams." (pg.39)

Once again, O’Brien develops a strong relationship with the reader, this time by
portraying his exact feelings towards the fact that he has been avoiding this story for
years. He uses writing as a way of relief, because even though he doesn’t know the
reader, he feels connected and comprehended, therefore comfortable by telling his
story, even though it brings back negative feelings towards himself.

How does O’Brien reveal his perspective on shame and courage in this chapter? How
does he invite you, the reader, to empathize with someone in this position?

O’Brien focuses the whole chapter on a story that he never told before. To anyone. Not
even his family or closest friends. Tim demonstrates the reasons that led him to feel
fear, embarrassment,shame, and courage for what he did. He personally connects with
the reader, while asking various specific questions: “Would you jump? Would you feel
pity for yourself? Would you think about your family and your childhood and your
dreams and all you're leaving behind? Would it hurt? Would it feel like dying? Would you
cry, as I did? I tried to swallow it back”. (pg 54. series of rhetorical questions) These
series of questions make the reader go further beyond the sole action of reading, it
makes the reader enable thinking and questioning. This passage focuses on making the
reader feel empathic about O’Brien’s experience with being drafted at such a young age
(twenty years old).

Explain the double-entendre in the chapter title.

O’Brien welcomes us with a very interesting title: “How to tell a true war story”. Trueness
has two different meanings in the title. The first meaning, is the most known, meaning
that the war story is told in accordance, with fact, or reality. The second meaning is a
way more complex one. O’Brien uses the word true, not as something literal or factual,
but as something that doesn’t have a point and can be about anything except war. It can
be about something that did happen during war, but not about war itself. Tim O'Brien
uses the word true as in something pure, honest and sincere. As in a story that comes
from someone’s heart. The double entendre is located in the title, making the reader
analyze the true meaning of it at the end of the chapter.

Write a different “CQC” about the second half/entirety of this chapter. You may use the
same questions from yesterday, or comment on whatever you found the most
significant about the chapter.

- What type of figurative language does O’Brien employ to portray the character of
Mary Anne Bell?

In “The Sweetheart of Tra Bong”, O’Brien focuses on Mark Fossies girlfriend, Mary Anne
Bell. She is initially portrayed as an innocent and naive girl who came straight out of
highschool. O’Brien transforms Mary Anne into a completely different character who is a
strong warrior, full of courage and strongness. “I saw those eyes of hers, I saw how she
wasn't even the same person no more.” O’Brien conveys how Mary Anne changes, he
addresses that once innocence is lost, it can never come back and it changes people
completely.

In 200-300 words, answer ONE of the following four questions. The “sub-questions”
are simply pointers--you don’t have to address all of them individually. Do use at least
one quote!

- What is the purpose of the chapter “Notes”?

O’Brien uses this chapter as a space to explain the origins of the previous chapter
“Speaking of Courage”. He narrates his personal failures while writing the chapter and
his interaction with Norman Bowker, a soldier who hanged himself after war. "Speaking
of Courage" was written in 1975 at the suggestion of Norman Bowker, who three years
later hanged himself in the locker room of a YMCA in his hometown in central Iowa.”
O’Brien uses this chapter as a way to give Norman Bowker a voice. Norman couldn’t
speak for himself because he could never find the correct words or what to say.
However, he did want his story to be known, as we can see in the previous chapter
where he imagines talking to his father or to Sally Kramer. “The emotional core came
directly from Bowker's letter: the simple need to talk.” O’Brien was inspired mainly by
Norman’s letter and he based the story on it. He also used symbols such as the medals,
or the lake to portray a clearer idea of what Norman experienced after the war.

What authorial choice(s) in this chapter reveal a different side of war, and/or of the
protagonist? Embed a quote for evidence, and use at least one active verb to explain
how O'Brien uses the literary device or technique to create an effect for the reader.

In “The Ghost Soldiers”, it is evidenced that O’Brien shows a new side, an evil and
revengeful side. All over the chapter, O’Brien describes his feelings towards Bobby
Jorgenson, a doctor that attended him poorly due to the lack of experience he had at the
moment. Due to this medical negligence, O’Brien suffers physical consequences and
develops a strong and marked hatred against Jorgenson. “I'd head down to the wire and
stare out at the darkness, out where the war was, and think up ways to make Bobby
Jorgenson feel exactly what I felt. I wanted to hurt him.” O’Brien evidences the fact that
he feels strong negativity against Bobby. He demonstrates his obsession by stating that
he planned more than one way to damage Jorgenson the way he damaged O’Brien.

"Close Reading & Analytical Writing": How does O'Brien use language to convey a
particular tone or create a particular mood in the chapter "Night Life"?

O’Brien’s “Night Life” focuses mainly on the changes that the soldiers were
experiencing. Rat Kiley is the principal character of this chapter. Everybody is tense due
to the fact that they have to sleep during daylight and be awake at night. Rat Kiley is the
one that gets affected most. “He claimed the bugs were personally after his ass.” “It's
not right," he said. "These pictures in my head, they won't quit…”. O’Brien choice in these
words is that Rat Kiley has some sort of mental issue or disorder that is starting to drive
him crazy.