Achievement Standard 3.

1: The Things They Carried

Short stories
Focus: The Things They Carried and Speaking of
Courage
Check AME study guide
Students need to know about:

Context Vietnam War, what was happening at the time, how people felt about
it. focus on background information and a bit about the war itself, then look at the
attitude towards the war in America (and other countries) as well as the experiences of
soldiers and the Vietnamese.

Setting what was Vietnam like for the soldiers

Characters who? What did we learn about them? Conflicts? Changes?

Relationships? how were they developed by Tim OBrien?

Themes what? How are they developed and explored? (The impact of war on
humans, They burdens we carry)

Style & Structure Identify aspects of Tim OBriens style and explain the
intended effects of these aspects of the short stories. Describe the structure of
the short stories why did OBrien structure them in this way?

Genre

Read On the Rainy River to create understanding of the drafting process.

Lesson 1: The Things They Carried
Intro to The Things They Carried
1. Explore the title of the book handout
2. Glossary of terms on the board Glossary of Military Terms Used in the Story:
AO: Area of Operation
PFC.: Private First Class
RTO: Radio and Telephone Operator
PRC-25: Pronounced "prick 25"
M & Ms: candy
Psy Ops: Psychological Warfare (Ops = operations)
R&R: Rest and Relaxation
SOP: Standard Operating Procedure
KIA: United States Killed in Action
USO: United Service Organization (Volunteer Entertainment and Morale)
VC: Vietcong

3. Read the story The Things They Carried. Questions?

4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnNMUYJ9fm8 (Audiobook from 1.37
seconds)

Lesson 2-3: The World of The Things They Carried

Research the Vietnam War and create a class google presentation Then go through
it as a class key ideas jot down.
Useful resources (on weebly)
http://www.slideshare.net/Pirate22/vietnam-overview-powerpoint-presentation. Lots of
slides, but brief very clear notes on the key facts/ figures/events.
Youtube overview- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e9GWdT2pEQ which is pretty
good and quite good depth. Let this guy do the explaining for you!
Youtube cartoon video that is only 4.30 mins and explains it wellhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0t-YBemwzs
Lesson 4: The Things They Carried
1. The things you carry task (h/o)
2. What questions were raised in your reading of The Things They Carried
3. Re-read the story aloud.
4. Characterisation: how does OBrien develop characters?
Task characterisation chart
What do the items that each of these characters carry tell us about them?
What else do we learn about the characters? How does OBrien reveal
these things to us? (techniques)
5. Task choose a quote that has most resonance/ meaning for you. Explain why
you chose it.

Lesson 5-6: On the Rainy River

1. Read the story aloud.
2. Questions for discussion (ppt)
3. Watch clip from Pinocchio that introduces Jiminy Cricket as Pinocchios
conscience. How does Elroy Berdahl act as Tim OBriens conscience? What
specific advice does he give OBrien?
4. Pig-declotting why do you think this section is in the novel? What does is
symbolise? How does it relate to Tim OBriens experience in the war?
5. What other symbols are there in the chapter?

Lessons 6-7: Speaking of Courage

1. Explain the title: what does courage mean in this sense?

2. Read the story.
3. Quiz
Dictation:
"Speaking of Courage"
"Speaking of Courage" is an important tale if only to read "Notes" with more insight. On its
own it is the troubling tale of a young man who is unable to speak about his experiences in
the war and thus is forced to relive them and the guilt they inspire. Norman Bowker circles the
lake in his hometown in Iowa over and over again because, as one of my brighter students
has said, "he can't get to the center of his problem so he always has to go around it." The
lake is the correlative setting to the latrine in Vietnam where Kiowa is killed. As the story goes
back and forth between postwar Iowa and Vietnam, Norman can only imagine having
conversations about what he has gone through. He cannot have a real conversation, not with
his father, not with his old girlfriend, not with a stranger on a speaker at a car hop. Because
he cannot confess his pain, Norman relives it over and over again.

Lesson 4-5: Notes

Dictation:
What is the effect of the story "Notes"?
Here in "Notes" O'Brien tries his technique of giving you "the real story." He has just presented
"Speaking of Courage" and now wants to give you the inside scoop of the "real" Norman
Bowker. It is effective. The reader feels as if he has been given the logical outcome of what
would happen to the repressed Bowker who cannot express the guilt he feels from the war.
However, the reader is admonished to remember that there was no Norman Bowker. Bowker is
a fictional character.
"Notes" uses this technique of "the story about the story" in order to deliver the real punch of
the plot here. In explaining the origin of the story, the persona named Tim O'Brien gives the
history of where the story came from. The setting came from his memory of a Minnesota lake,
the inspiration came from a letter from Bowker after the war. Finally, the narrator says, the
part about how Kiowa died and who let him die, "[t]hat part of the story is my own." If we
forget that the narrator too is a fictional character, we are tempted to believe that the real
Tim O'Brien is purging his guilt in a confessional story. It is powerful. It is well done
manipulation on the author's part.

Short Story Analysis:

Using online study guides, make notes on the following aspects of the short stories:
Theme
Blurring the line between fiction and non-fiction and the purpose of storytelling - Tim
OBrien in the classroom p. 14
Final lesson:
1. What are the things that the characters carried home from the war?

The Things They Carried

I LOVE this novel! I studied it at university and it blew me away. I read stories from it
when I teach the Vietnam War in Year 12 History- I cant let it go!
I do believe I have resources somewhere under the house now
Here is a link to some resources onlinehttp://www.shmoop.com/things-they-carried/characters.html
http://cds.library.brown.edu/projects/WritingVietnam/obrienpreface.html
http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/Vietnam/callowaythings.html
http://www.gailborden.info/bigread/images/pdf/American_Place_Theatre_RG_Things_th
ey_Carried_0905.pdf- drama activities, but also useful passage reflection/questions.
http://www.wlajournal.com/wlafall/farrell_o.htm
Teaching ideas
http://www.webenglishteacher.com/obrien.html
http://www.csun.edu/~alr2303/TTCHome.html
http://www.neabigread.org/books/thethingstheycarried/teachers-guide/schedulelesson-plans/
http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/worth-weight-letterwriting-1061.html?tab=3#tabs
http://cds.library.brown.edu/projects/WritingVietnam/obrien.html
Love of War
How to tell a true war story
http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/love-brien-tell-true1012.html?tab=4#tabs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4EV7w1Zxaw
Audio books:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnNMUYJ9fm8 (from 1.30)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vcmASDmEr8- Tim OBrien interview on writing
and war
You probably have found all of these, but they may be a help.
I will also check what I have at home!
I taught it as a short text and a long text- back when you needed to do both! Was a
sneaky way to teach short stories and novel at the same time. I would also show them
the classic film Platoon- because it really reflects a lot of points mentioned in the
novel. Charlie Sheens character is quite like OBriens. I have a copy if you want that
too. A bit gory at times, but M rating.
I wouldnt worry about your background knowledge. Get them to do a little research
task finding out the gist of the war. Even just a library period or two.

Or you could take them through this powerpointhttp://www.slideshare.net/Pirate22/vietnam-overview-powerpoint-presentation. Lots of

slides, but brief very clear notes on the key facts/ figures/events.
Youtube overview- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e9GWdT2pEQ which is pretty
good and quite good depth. Let this guy do the explaining for you!
Youtube cartoon video that is only 4.30 mins and explains it wellhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0t-YBemwzs
I find the girls do like learning about the setting both in Vietnam and back in the US
with the anti-war movement. The 60s/ 70s are pretty exciting to them!
I think there is a lot you could do with this novel/ short stories
So many writing opportunities- I got my History girls to reflect on what they
would carry should they be drafted tomorrow to a war. It was quite interesting
what they came up with in terms of psychological, spiritual and literal things.
There are so many movies- you could get them to do an independent film study
or compare Platoon to another film of their choice on Vietnam.
I think the themes are fascinating too- the idea of what courage is, the idea of the
enemy within, the issue with truth and fiction
In a sense I see the position the men were put in was quite similar to Lord of the
Flies- what people do in situations outside their usual context, the parts of ourselves
that become exposed and how we live with that, make sense of it and move on.
ANYWAY- sorry Im getting excited! Enough said.
I will bring the DVD up to staff briefing tomorrow. It does have drug use, lots of
swearing etc. But it is M and does accurately portray the reality of the war for a lot of
US men. I dont like gratuitous violence at all, but when it reflects reality I kind of think
it is good to expose our more sheltered students to a bit of it.
Jordanna

Shmoop was mentioned as a site worth exploring as part of our classroom practice. For those
unfamiliar - its similar to Sparknotes and other literary analysis sites, but very much in StudentSpeak which tends to resonate with its audience (Whilst perhaps irritating some of their teachers).
How spoiled we are now, when it comes to sourcing secondary material for the texts we teach, or
indeed, encouraging our students to do so. Sharyn Hunt wrote: We've had several discussions as a
team about resources like shmoop, and we've made a conscious effort to embrace them. The first
activity my year 13s did with Atonement was to investigate the online resources and use them to
answer a question that required them to use the information rather than cut and paste. We also
used some of the chapter analysis today to highlight important sections (read in pairs, summarised,
told another group, used question starters to probe more deeply). It's also an interesting exercise to
compare the different sites, and to evaluate the effect of shmoop's more conversational tone. One
of the students saw the site was written by college students, and he got very excited about a new
career path! Of course, all the information is clearly referenced and acknowledged :) I wonder how
other departments and teachers are consciously using sites like these in their classroom practice.
Do you use them? If so, how?

"On the Rainy River"

The Things they Carried

http://quizlet.com/23004277/the-things-they-carried-literary-techniques-flash-cards/