CP The Things They Carried
RESEARCH PROJECT
Goal: To seek out multiple sources and to research a narrowly focused topic related to the Vietnam War and era and to present findings in a creative, multi-media project.
Requirements:
- A clear thesis which states an arguable idea that must be proven with evidence
- At least three sources explored and annotated. The quality of sources is very important. Try to mix it up... look at a variety of types of sources: reference books (print source); primary sources -- (first hand account, diary, letter, news story, etc); articles from an online database (MARVEL/Artemis), etc.
- Annotated Bibliography which evaluates and responds to sources
- Reflective Writing that discusses the research process and progress
- Minimum of three sources cited in project
- Graded elements:
- proposal and rationale x.5
- annotated bibliography x1
- source notes x1
- reflection check-in -- “progress report” on research thus far x.5
- project story boards x1
- Final project x3
- Question and answer/discussion with audience x.5
- Proposal and Rationale: How is this connected to your reading of The Things They Carried and the Vietnam War? Why this topic? Why this particular angle on the topic? What do you know and what do you want to learn? How have you narrowed your topic?
- Annotated Bibliography: For each source read (3 minimum) write a 200-400 word explanation (“abstract”) and evaluation of the source. Give full bibliographic information on the source (MLA Format). Say what the validity of the source is, what it discusses, and what its usability level is in your project
- Source Notes: Must include full source citation, bolded, at the top, and consist of information culled from sources, put in quotation marks, page numbers (if applicable) indicated, and source name in parentheses following each quote. You must gather at least 4 pages of notes.
- Reflection Check-in: Written at the half-way point in the research process. The reflection will be a “dialogue” about what you have discovered thus far, what you have learned, roadblocks you have encountered, information you still need, questions you have, and progress you have made toward your project.
- “Story Boards”: Once information is gathered, you will create “story boards” that lay out what your project will consist of and that will create the framework for your project. This will be the equivalent to an outline in a traditional research paper and will show the inherent structure (intro, “body,” conclusion) -- as well as what images and central ideas you will explore where.
- Final Project: -- Your goal will be to present your findings in the most interesting, creative way possible. You have a great deal of leeway in the final project, but it must consist of words, images, and sound, and it must be “publishable” -- that is, without you present to talk your way through it, it must “speak on its own.” Consider that carefully. That means that if you chose to write the diary or letters of a soldier (very much based on fact you have researched), you would need to either create a slide show of text entries accompanied by music and images or to record the entries, accompanied by images and text. You could choose to create a “mini documentary” about the subject or a PSA about the hazards of Agent Orange or an informational slide show for middle schoolers, etc. Your project must be presented to the class on a set date. No late projects. MUST INCLUDE A WORKS CITED.
- Q & A and discussion: Answer questions from your audience. Show your complete knowledge on the subject. Explain why this project and what you learned both through the process and about the subject.
RESOURCES FOR CREATING PROJECT:
1. Go to YHS Student -- Tools for Digital Creations
Look at National Archives, Photos for Class, and Life Magazine resources for images (there's even a link to Vietnam War images specifically)
2. Consider Prezi, Thing Link, Imovie, Keynote, Google Presentation as platforms to use
3. When creating your storyboards, you must indicate beginning, middle, end which show thesis, support evidence, and conclusion; font you will use (stay with ONE); images you will include; what transition type (if any) you will use. (stay consistently with one type of transition). Account for where citations and works cited will go.
Per 4W TIMELINE (subject to change):
Wednesday, April 29: Begin exploring topics for research/Library
Friday, May 1: Questioning and narrowing; submit proposal and rationale at beginning of period Tuesday; begin work on source annotation
Tuesday, May 5: Work Time -- Sources -- Annotation of 3 Sources due Thursday
at beginning of class.
Thursday, May 7: Work Time: Source Notes (due at end of period Monday)
Monday, May 11: Source Notes due at end of period; Ms. Barr to talk about
formats for projects and image resources.
Wednesday, May 13: Reflection Check-in done in class; Begin work on Story Boards
Friday, May 15: Work Time -- Story Boards and Projects
Tuesday, May 19: Work Time -- Projects/test presentations
Thursday, May 21: Project Presentations and Discussion
Per 2B and 5B TIMELINE (subject to change):
Thursday, April 30: Begin exploring topics for research/Library
Monday, May 4: Questioning and narrowing; submit proposal and rationale at beginning of period Wednesday; begin work on source annotation
Wednesday, May 6: Work Time -- Sources -- Annotation of 3 Sources due Friday
at beginning of class.
Friday, May 8: Work Time: Source Notes (due at end of period Tuesday)
Tuesday, May 12: Source Notes due at end of period; Ms. Barr to talk about
formats for projects and image resources.
Thursday, May 14: Reflection Check-in done in class; Begin work on Story Boards
Monday, May 18: Work Time -- Story Boards and Projects
Wednesday, May 20: Work Time -- Projects/test presentations
Friday, May 22: Project Presentations and Discussion
SOME POSSIBLE TOPICS TO EXPLORE:
Denise Levertov poetry (she went to Vietnam to write about it)
Other Vietnam-era poets (Komunyaka)
Nursing
Myths
Televising War -- independent journalists
Agent Orange
Napalm
Draft
Draft Evasion
Military’s treatment of patients in Vietnam
Charlie Litke -- chaplain in Vietnam -- gave back Congressional Medal of Honor
Individual stories -- trace the experience/story of one soldier or other individual
Treatment of veterans
psychological warfare
PTSD
drug use
The Tet Offensive
The Ho Chi Minh Trail
The Battle of Khe Sahn
Ethnicity and casualties among whites and African Americans
Racial divisions among the troops
Containment theory
Vietcong
Ho Chi Minh
Operation Vulture
Domino Theory
Robert McNamara
Armed propaganda
POW Treatment
Gulf of Tonkin
The Nixon Doctrine
Kent State
Pentagon Papers
Vietnam Protests
My Lai Massacre
Green Beret Affair
Invasion of Cambodia
Woodstock
Vietnam Moratorium Peace Demonstration
1968 Democratic National Convention
Fall of Saigon
Boat People
Kit Carson Scouts
Củ Chi tunnels
Phoenix Program
Winter Soldier Investigation
Fulbright Hearings
1954 Geneva Conference
Father Daniel Berrigan
Chicano Moratorium
Hanoi Jane
Chicago Seven
Protest Songs
Vietnam War Films
Vietnam War videogames
Oral History family, veteran’s personal experiences
Music
Vietnamese-American children
Vietnam Time Line:
1858-1884 - France invades Vietnam and makes Vietnam a colony.
October 1930 - Ho Chi Minh helps found the Indochinese Communist Party.
September 1940 - Japan invades Vietnam.
May 1941 - Ho Chi Minh establishes the Viet Minh (League for the Independence of Vietnam).
September 2, 1945 - Ho Chi Minh declares an independent Vietnam, called the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
January 1950 - The Viet Minh receive military advisors and weapons from China.
July 1950 - The United States pledges $15 million worth of military aid to France to help them fight in Vietnam.
May 7, 1954 - The French suffer a decisive defeat at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.
July 21, 1954 - The Geneva Accords creates a cease-fire for the peaceful withdrawal of the French from Vietnam and provides a temporary boundary between North and South Vietnam at the 17th parallel.
October 26, 1955 - South Vietnam declares itself the Republic of Vietnam, with newly elected Ngo Dinh Diem as president.
December 20, 1960 - The National Liberation Front (NLF), also called the Viet Cong, is established in South Vietnam.
November 2, 1963 - South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem is executed during a coup.
August 2 and 4, 1964 - North Vietnamese attack two U.S. destroyers sitting in international waters (the Gulf of Tonkin Incident).
August 7, 1964 - In response to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, the U.S. Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
March 2, 1965 - A sustained U.S. aerial bombing campaign of North Vietnam begins (Operation Rolling Thunder).
March 8, 1965 - The first U.S. combat troops arrive in Vietnam.
January 30, 1968 - The North Vietnamese join forces with the Viet Cong to launch the Tet Offensive, attacking approximately one hundred South Vietnamese cities and towns.
March 16, 1968 - U.S. soldiers kill hundreds of Vietnamese civilians in the town of Mai Lai.
July 1968 - General William Westmoreland, who had been in charge of the U.S. troops in Vietnam, is replaced by General Creighton Abrams.
December 1968 - U.S. troops in Vietnam reaches 540,000.
July 1969 - President Nixon orders the first of many U.S. troop withdrawals from Vietnam.
September 3, 1969 - Communist revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh dies at age 79.
November 13, 1969 - The American public learns of the Mai Lai massacre.
April 30, 1970 - President Nixon announces that U.S. troops will attack enemy locations in Cambodia. This news sparks nationwide protests, especially on college campuses.
June 13, 1971 - Portions of the Pentagon Papers are published in The New York Times.
March 1972 - The North Vietnamese cross the demilitarized zone (DMZ) at the 17th parallel to attack South Vietnam in what became known as the Easter Offensive.
January 27, 1973 - The Paris Peace Accords are signed that provide a cease-fire.
March 29, 1973 - The last U.S. troops are withdrawn from Vietnam.
March 1975 - North Vietnam launches a massive assault on South Vietnam.
April 30, 1975 - South Vietnam surrenders to the communists.
July 2, 1976 - Vietnam is unified as a communist country, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
November 13, 1982 - The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. is dedicated.
Tim O'Brien Brown University Lecture: Writing Vietnam
Discussion Questions
1. The narrator of The Things They Carried goes by the same name as the author, but the title page notes that this is a “work of fiction.” How did this launch your reading of the book?
2. In the title story, soldiers carry things both tangible and intangible. Which were heavier? Which items spoke most powerfully to you? What do you carry around with you every day, materially and emotionally? What do soldiers carry in war today, and what would you most want to carry in war?
3. Why is the first story told in the third person? What effect does it have on you as a reader to then switch to the first person in “Love”? O’Brien also uses the second person in this collection. For example, in “On the Rainy River,” the narrator, trying to decide whether to accept the draft or become a draft dodger, asks: “What would you do?” (page 56). Why does the author use these different perspectives?
4. Who is Elroy Berdahl, and why is he “the hero of [the narrator’s] life” (page 48)?
5. Discuss the two very short stories “Enemies” and “Friends.” What is the relationship between Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen? How are they both enemies and friends? In what other ways are the soldiers in this platoon sometimes fighting one another instead of the “real” enemy?
6. In “How to Tell a True War Story,” O’Brien writes: “A true war story is never moral.” What does this mean? Is there even such a thing as a true war story? Can one person’s truth be another person’s falsehood? Can truth evolve over time, or is truth fixed and absolute? Can some truths stand in opposition and contradiction to one another? Is truth a simple matter of black and white, or can it come in shades of gray? In what other places in the book do we see characters struggling with morality? Are there morals to be learned from these war stories? How does the book change the way you understand the political ramifications of Vietnam? How does its discussion of morality fit into the larger discussion of wars and our world today?
7. Consider the many paradoxes of war and how O’Brien brings them to light: “I was a coward. I went to war” (page 61); “The truths are contradictory. It can be argued, for instance, that war is grotesque. But in truth war is also beauty” (page 80). What are some other paradoxes of war? How do they affect your understanding of war?
8. At the end of “How to Tell a True War Story,” O’Brien claims the story he’s just related “wasn’t a war story. It was a love story” (page 85). How does O’Brien distinguish between a war story and a love story?
9. “ ‘Daddy, tell the truth,’ Kathleen can say, ‘did you ever kill anybody?’ And I can say, honestly, ‘Of course not.’ Or I can say, honestly, ‘Yes’ ” (page 180). How can both of these contradictory responses be true? What is truth --- to both Tim O’Brien the narrator and Tim O’Brien the author? Consider the distinction between “story truth” and “happening truth,” which O’Brien develops in the story “Good Form.”
10. “A true war story, if truly told, makes the stomach believe” (page 78). Which stories in this collection made your stomach believe? Which felt true? Is it essential to you that a story be rooted in fact? If so, what do you make of Thumbelina, Alice in Wonderland, or the stories of Edgar Allan Poe?
11. The soldiers often tell jokes to relieve tension. Did you find their jokes funny? How is language important to the soldiers? What words do they use to make their experience easier to handle? What other tricks do the soldiers use to keep themselves sane?
12. What are some of the tools O’Brien uses as a writer to make the reader feel the immediacy and reality of the war? How does he work with tension?
13. Many of the stories are told second- or even third-hand (“Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”; what happened to Rat Kiley in “Night Life”). How does this color our understanding of the stories? Why does O’Brien create this distance?
14. Three stories in succession, “Speaking of Courage,” “Notes,” and “In the Field,” deal with one event: Kiowa’s death. O’Brien similarly shows us incidents from different perspectives throughout the book. Where else does this device occur? How do these different perspectives change your understanding of an incident? Why do you think the author chose to do this?
15. In some of the stories, O’Brien pauses to address issues of storytelling: “The sound. You need to get a consistent sound, like slow or fast, funny or sad. All these digressions, they just screw up you story’s sound. Stick to what happened” (page 107). What effect does this have on your reading? What does the book teach us about writing?
16. Repetition is a device O’Brien uses in his stories. What do you remember about the man killed by the narrator? How does the repetition of the same language enhance the event or affect your understanding of it?
17. In “The Lives of the Dead,” O’Brien writes, “Stories can save us” (page 225). How do stories save the narrator? What else can stories do, according to The Things They Carried and from what you’ve experienced in your own life? The story “Good Form” attempts to explain the method behind the construction of the book and raises the questions What are stories for? How might Tim O’Brien answer that? And how would you?
18. There are many different types of loss addressed throughout the book: the loss of life, of course, but also the loss of the past --- for example, after Tim O’Brien gets shot for the second time, he feels the loss of being a “real” soldier very strongly and misses the excitement and fraternity of combat. What else do O’Brien and the other characters in the book lose? What does resurrecting these losses through story accomplish? What losses do you feel most strongly in your own life, and how do you deal with them? Do you tell about them?
**These questions taken from www.readinggroupguides.com/guides_T/things_they_carried1.asp. @2001-2011, ReadingGroupGuides.com. All rights reserved.
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