First Period:
THE THINGS THEY CARRIED
Go over how to write the “The Man I Killed” Essay
Example of how to do quotations:
Tim O’Brien is crouched in a catatonic state of shock, not moving, not speaking. Kiowa,
concerned about the emotional state of his army buddy, says to him, “Hey,
you’re looking better.” Then he says, “C’mon, talk!” O’Brien does not say that he is in such a state of shock
that he cannot speak, rather he reveals his extreme state of pain by having
Kiowa try to encourage him to “snap out of it”.
A quotation needs three elements:
An introduction
The quotation itself
A comment on the quotation
This essay will be due on Thursday, October 2nd.
Period 2:
THE THINGS THEY CARRIED
“Speaking of Courage”
page 137 - 154
Valor: (noun) courage, bravery
Valiant (adjective) brave, to have courage
The valiant mother saved her child from the flames.
To win the silver star a soldier must show valor.
1. What happened to Kiowa?
2. What time, the year and the
season, does the framing part of the story take place? Is Norman in the army or
is he a civilian?
3. Why does O’Brien use Norman
Bowker’s drive around a nondescript lake as a framing device for Kiowa’s death?
4. What is the common object in
both stories – the framing story and Kiowa’s death?
5.Describe the people and the town
that Norman is living in.
6. What happened at the rootbeer stand?
7. What is the reason Bowker could
not save Kiowa?
Tuesday, September 30th:
1st Period:
THE THINGS THEY CARRIED
Work on the essay
The essay will be due on Thursday, October 2nd.
Went over prompt again.
Went over the first paragraph again.
Acted out “The Man I Killed” to illustrate the use of
dialogue to show O’Brien’s emotional state after killing a young man.
Discussion of the internal process of O’Brien’s obsessing:
repetition of details, back story for the Viet Cong soldier. We infer O'Brien's emotional state by the other soldiers' dialogue to him or by what they say to him.
2nd Period:
THE THINGS THEY CARRIED
“Notes” and “In the Fields”
Read:
The Myth of Icarus
W.H. Auden’s poem “Musee des Beaux Arts”
Analyzed Brueghel’s painting “The Fall of Icarus”
Read and discuss:
“Notes” and “In the Fields” pages 155 - 165
Discussion: What is true?
Wednesday, October 1st:
1st Period:
THE THINGS THEY CARRIED
In the library today to work on essay
2nd Period:
THE THINGS THEY CARRIED
"Speaking of Courage"
Answer the questions from Monday on "Speaking of Courage"
The questions will be due tomorrow.
Read "In the Field" from page 164 to page 173.
Thursday, October 2nd:
THE THINGS THEY CARRIED
Collect the essay for “The Man I Killed”
Read “Ambush”; pages 131 - 134
Vocabulary:
Ambush: to attack or be attacked unexpectedly
Motif: a recurring symbol which appears repeatedly in a work
of art or a piece of literature. It represents more than the face value of the
object.
Questions:
1. What
does O’Brien mean when he writes on page 133, “Almost certainly the young man
would have passed by. And it will always be that way.”
2. Do
you think this was the actual occurrence of events in the death of the young
man?
Discussion
Read “Style”; pages 135 – 136
Discussion
1. Why was the young girl dancing?
2. What was the men's attitude towards the young girl?
Read “Speaking of Courage”; pages 137 – 139
Discussion
Period 2:
THE THINGS THEY CARRIED
“In the Field”; pages 173 – 178
Discussion
Who is responsible for Kiowa’s death?
“Good Form”; pages 179 - 180
These questions relate to Tim O'Brien's story about his role in the death of the young Vietcong soldier:
These questions relate to Tim O'Brien's story about his role in the death of the young Vietcong soldier:
1. According to O'Brien, what
is the happening-truth of O'Brien's role as a soldier in Vietnam?
2. What
is the story-truth of O'Brien's role in the death of the young man?
3. What power do stories have? What can they allow O'Brien, and by extension, everyone do?
4. Did
O’Brien kill someone?
Friday, October 3rd:
1st Period:
THE THINGS THEY CARRIED
Read 21 pages a day
Reading journals
2nd Period:
THE THINGS THEY CARRIED
Read 21 pages a day
"Night Life" and "The Lives of the Dead"
Reading journals
