- “Truth” in The Things They CarriedThe Greek philosopher and playwright Aeschylus said, “In war, truth is the first casualty.” Tim O’Brien’s novel, The Things They Carried is very much concerned with the truth of war. How does O’Brien distinguish between the “happening-truth” and the “story-truth”? Which is more important? Why? How does storytelling—the use of fiction—allow for a greater sense of truth than factual reporting might? What are the pervading truths of this novel?
- Throughout the book, O’Brien casts doubt on the veracity of his stories. Why does he do so? Does it make you more or less interested in the book? Does it increase or decrease your understanding? What is the difference between facts and truth? Is it fair to readers that the author uses elements of his own life and blurs the lines between fact and fiction in these stories?
- The title of the book refers the “weight” the soldiers carry. Discuss in your essay what the soldiers carry and the effect of that weight. Use specific examples, characters, and events from the book to support your ideas.
- O’Brien uses many examples of horrific images in war, but contrasts them by writing about beautiful images as well. Choose three different “sets” of contrasts and discuss them each, ,using characters, events, and the imagery provided by O’Brien to support your ideas. Also, in each set, discuss why O’Brien includes these polar opposites in his book.
- Discuss the role of women in the novel. How do they control, affect/effect, change or alter the events and/or male characters in the story?
- How does guilt enter the lives of Jimmy Cross, Tim O’Brien, Norman Bowker, Rat Kiley, Dave Jensen, Curt Lemon? Why is shame or guilt so difficult? In what way does guilt compel each man to make emotional, rather than logical decisions? How does storytelling help relieve some of the guilt?
On Friday, we’ll have a test over existentialist philosophy. You can download all of the notes here (be sure to scroll down to the bottom for the notes on all of the individual philosophers).
The test will cover:
- introduction to existentialism
- Jean-Paul Sartre
- Albert Camus
- Friederich Nietzsche
- Soren Kierkegaard
- Andre Malraux
- Simone de Beauvoir
We’ll review the materials on Thursday and test on Friday. You might even check out this study guide which distills the core concepts from the unit into a single handout.
Our first analysis essay this year we will be analyze an excerpt from a piece by Scott Russell Sanders. The first draft will be due on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. using Google Drive.
Some links that may help:
Remember, your focus is to break down and analyze his arguments. While identifying rhetorical devices is important, your focus should be on analyzing how those devices and other language create meaning.
Good luck!
Discussion group will be held on Thursday this week at the Fireside Coffee. 7:30-close.
Come discuss the foundations of democracy and the value of partisan debate.
We will have a quiz over the 11 most important rhetorical devices on Thursday in AP Language. To review, you might take a look at:
- the list of terms and their definitions.
- the practice we did today.
- the Quizlet review of the terms and their definitions.
Study!
This week, we’ll be focusing on a new sort of writing assignment, doing brief rhetorical analyses of speeches and written texts. You can download the assignment sheet here, and review the rhetorical devices we studied in class on Monday here. If you need to do some background research on Dr. King’s I Have a Dream speech, I’d suggest starting here.
You can also watch Dr. King deliver the speech below.
