The Things They Carried
by Tim O'Brien
List Price: $13.00
Pages: 246
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 0767902890
Publisher: Broadway
They carried malaria tablets, love letters, 28-pound mine detectors, dope,
illustrated Bibles, each other. And, if they made it home alive, they
carried unrelenting images of a nightmarish war that history is only beginning
to absorb. Since it was first published, The Things They Carried
has become an unparalleled Vietnam testament, a classic work of American
literature and a profound study of men at war that illuminates the capacity,
and the limits, of the human heart and soul.
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The questions that follow are intended to enhance your reading group's
discussion of this multi-faceted book, and we hope that they will also
help you discover additional lines of inquiry about the equally healing
and heartbreaking chapters in The Things They Carried.
1. Why is the first story, "The Things They Carried," written in
third person? How does this serve to introduce the rest of the novel?
What effect did it have on your experience of the novel when O'Brien switched
to first person, and you realized the narrator was one of the soldiers?
2. In the list of all the things the soldiers carried, what item
was most surprising? Which item did you find most evocative of the war?
Which items stay with you?
3. In "On The Rainy River," we learn the 21-year-old O'Brien's
theory of courage: "Courage, I seemed to think, comes to us in finite
quantities, like an inheritance, and by being frugal and stashing it away
and letting it earn interest, we steadily increase our moral capital in
preparation for that day when the account must be drawn down. It was a
comforting theory." What might the 43-year-old O'Brien's theory of courage
be? Were you surprised when he described his entry into the Vietnam War
as an act of cowardice? Do you agree that a person could enter a war as
an act of cowardice?
4. What is the role of shame in the lives of these soldiers? Does
it drive them to acts of heroism, or stupidity? Or both? What is the relationship
between shame and courage, according to O'Brien?
5. Often, in the course of his stories, O'Brien tells us beforehand
whether or not the story will have a happy or tragic ending. Why might
he do so? How does it affect your attitude towards the narrator?
6. According to O'Brien, how do you tell a true war story? What
does he mean when he says that true war stories are never about war? What
does he mean when he writes of one story, "That's a true story that never
happened"?
7. In "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong," what transforms Mary Anne
into a predatory killer? Does it matter that Mary Anne is a woman? How
so? What does the story tell us about the nature of the Vietnam War?
8. The story Rat tells in "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong" is
highly fantastical. Does its lack of believability make it any less compelling?
Do you believe it? Does it fit O'Brien's criteria for a true war story?
9. Aside from "The Things They Carried," "Speaking of Courage"
is the only other story written in third person. Why are these stories
set apart in this manner? What does the author achieve by doing so?
10. What is the effect of "Notes," in which O'Brien explains the
story behind "Speaking Of Courage"? Does your appreciation of the story
change when you learn which parts are "true" and which are the author's
invention?
11. In "In The Field," O'Brien writes, "When a man died, there
had to be blame." What does this mandate do to the men of O'Brien's company?
Are they justified in thinking themselves at fault? How do they cope with
their own feelings of culpability?
12. In "Good Form," O'Brien casts doubt on the veracity of the
entire novel. Why does he do so? Does it make you more or less interested
in the novel? Does it increase or decrease your understanding? What is
the difference between "happening-truth" and "story-truth?"
13. On the copyright page of the novel appears the following: "This
is a work of fiction. Except for a few details regarding the author's
own life, all the incidents, names, and characters are imaginary." How
does this statement affect your reading of the novel?
14. Does your opinion of O'Brien change throughout the course of
the novel? How so? How do you feel about his actions in "The Ghost Soldiers"?
15. "The Ghost Soldiers" is one of the only stories of The Things
They Carried in which we don't know the ending in advance. Why might O'Brien
want this story to be particularly suspenseful?
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On Sunday, Showtime will present "A Soldier's Sweetheart" an adaptation of a story entitled "Sweetheart of The Song Tra Bong" from Tim O'Brien's acclaimed book, THE THINGS THEY CARRIED.
THE THINGS THEY CARRIED is Tim O'Brien's beautiful, anguished collection
of linked stories about Vietnam. In it, he blends diverse voices
and events into an unforgettable portrayal of war and the people who fight
it. Mingling fact with fiction, telling and retelling events
from different points of view, the book is as much about war as it is
about the difference between truth and reality.
"In many cases a true war story cannot be believed," he writes. "If
you believe it, be skeptical. It's a question of credibility. Often
the crazy stuff is true and the normal stuff isn't, because the normal
stuff is necessary to make you believe the truly incredibly craziness."
What then to make of a story titled "Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong?" In
the story, a young soldier named Mark Fossie is assigned to a medical
detachment near a river called the Song Tra Bong. Also occupying
the camp are a group of six Green Berets with whom the rest of the camp
has little contact.
Lonely and tired of the war, Mark concocts a plot to bring his girlfriend,
Mary Anne to their camp. His friends think he's kidding, but
one day she arrives. And she stays. At first she
and Mark are inseparable, but gradually she becomes entranced with the
country and fascinated by the war. She begins going out on
patrol with the Green Berets, and one day she disappears into the mountains
and is never seen again.
Fact? Fiction? Both? O'Brien convinces
us it could have happened, but almost in the same breath he hints that
it is pure fable. It is one of the most fascinating stories
in the book, all the more so because it is impossible to know the truth.
Read the book, watch the movie, or, better yet, do both and decide for
yourself if it happened, could have happened, or is just one of those
crazy war stories that could never have happened.
--- Reviewed by Judith Handschuh (JHSCRIBA)
Courtesy of Random House, Inc.
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