The Things They Carried

1
The Things They Carried

• An introduction to Tim OBrien and his fictional
  account of the Vietnam War

2
Prior Knowledge (Vocabulary)

• Fabricated
• Psychological warfare
• Propaganda
• Communists
• Protagonist

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Fabricated

• Made up, created.
• The child fabricated a lie when asked how the
  lamp became broken.
• The child made up a lie when asked how the lamp
  became broken.

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4
Psychological Warfare

• Tactics that use propaganda to try to demoralize
  an enemy in war, usually including the civilian
  population

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Propaganda

• Something communicated in a biased way in order
  to shape or change the ideas of a targeted
  audience
• information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread
  widely to help or harm a person, group, movement,
  institution, nation, etc.

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Communists

• One who believes in a system of government in
  which the state plans and controls the economy
  shares all goods equally with the people
• Create closed state economies that barely trade
  with capitalist countries

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Protagonist

• The central figure of a story The character with
  the lead role.

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Relevant Facts About the Vietnam War

• No fixed date that the US entered into war with
  Vietnam
• Series of steps from 1950 1965

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Relevant Facts about the Vietnam War

• Eisenhower fabricated a government of South
  Vietnam
• Advisers to psychological warfare against North
  Vietnam

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Vietnam Timeline

• 1950 Truman sent economic and military aid to
  the French who were trying to retain hold on
  their Indochina colony.
• 1954 The defeated French conceded to a
  communist government north of the 17th parallel.
• 1960 JFK approves Aid
• 1964 US began sending combat troops as a result
  of The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.

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Vietnam Timeline

• 1965 1966 Military escalation because S.
  Vietnam couldnt handle things
• 1967 Draft began. Antiwar Protests happening
  across US
• 1969 My Lai Massacre where US soldiers kill a
  village full of civilians
• 1972 Ceasefire
• 1973 Paris Peace Agreement
• Click here for an online timeline offered by
  pbs.org

12
Vietnam Demographics

• Location
• Religion
• People

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Vietnam Demographics

• Location South of China, East of Laos and
  Cambodia, West of South China Sea

Here is an interesting interactive map of places
mentioned in the book
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Religion

• Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity, and
  Tam Giao (tri-religion, )

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Religions
Other religions include Hoa Hao (1.5), Cao Dai
(1.1), Protestant (.5, and Muslim (.1)
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People of Vietnam
80 ethnic Vietnamese 20 - 50 different ethnic
minority groups, hill tribes Languages spoken
Vietnamese, Chinese, English, French, Russian
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What Do You Need to Know About the Book Before
Reading It?

• It is ALL fiction!
• Facts are not important!
• Emotional effect of incidents is what is
  important.

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Tim OBrien (author) vs. Tim OBrien
(character, narrator)

• Protagonist and sometime narrator is Tim
  OBrien. This Tim OBrien in the book is NOT
  REAL.
• Even when Tim OBrien talks directly to the
  reader, it is the fictional Tim.

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Example of the narrator Tim OBrien speaking
directly to the reader

• Now and then, when I tell this story about the
  baby water buffalo, someone will come up to me
  afterward and say she liked it. Its always a
  woman. . What I should do, shell say, is put
  it all behind me. Find new stories to tell.
• I wont say it but Ill think it.
• Ill picture Rat Kileys face, his grief, and
  Ill think, You dumb cooze.
• Because she wasnt listening.
• It wasnt a war story. It was a love story.
• How to Tell a True War Story, pgs 84 - 85

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Tim OBrien

• The author Tim did actually go to Vietnam and
  really was in the Alpha Company, but is writing a
  fictional account.

21
Literary Devices found in The Things They Carried

• Imagery
• Mood
• Point of View
• Characterization
• Symbolism
• Metaphor
• Irony

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Imagery

• Vivid language that puts a picture in the mind of
  the reader
• Example
• His jaw was in his throat, his upper lip and
  teeth were gone, his one eye was shut, his other
  eye was a star-shaped hole (pg. 124)

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Mood

• Feeling author wants the reader to have while
  reading
• Example
• In the story Ghost Soldiers Tim wants the
  reader to feel the fear of being on night watch.

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Point of View

• The attitude or outlook of a narrator or
  character.
• Example
• The narrator Tim OBrien is against war and
  thinks himself a coward for going to Vietnam

25
Characterization

• What the characters are like their personalities
• Example
• Henry Dobbins is superstitious and believes in
  luck because he carries extra rations and his
  girlfriends pantyhose.

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Metaphor

• Compare two things that are unlike in any way
  (without using like or as)
• Example
• The disjointed telling of the story is a metaphor
  for life as a soldier in Vietnam

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Symbolism

• An object that represents a larger idea
• Example
• The Silver Star is a medal that symbolizes
  courage and honor

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Irony

• The opposite of what is expected happens
• Example
• When 2 characters are goofing off and having a
  good time, a bomb goes off and kills one.

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Tim O'Brien biographyThe Early Years

• Born in Austin on Oct. 1, 1946 and grew up in a
  small town in Minnesota
• He shares this birth date with several of his
  characters
• Dad was an insurance salesman
• Mom was an elementary school teacher

30
Tim O'Brien BiographyCollege Life

• Political science major at Macalester College,
  attended peace vigils and war protests
• Graduated in 1968

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Tim O'Brien BiographyTo Go to War?

• Received his draft notice upon graduation
• Was against the war hated Boy Scouts, bugs, and
  rifles.
• Considered deserting to Canada once he received
  his classification as an infantryman

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Tim O'Brien BiographyIn Vietnam

• Assigned to the 3rd Platoon, Alpha Company, 5th
  battalion, 46th Infantry as a foot soldier
• Served in Vietnam from 1969-1970
• Returned home with a Purple Heart
• Was wounded by shrapnel from a hand grenade

33
Tim O'Brien BiographyViews on Vietnam

• Now believes it was an act of cowardice to go to
  war instead of fleeing to Canada
• Was 22 years old and feared the disapproval of
  his family and friends, his townspeople and
  country
• Hated every minute of Vietnam

34
Tim O'Brien BiographyLife after Vietnam

• After returning to the states, he became a grad
  student at Harvard.
• Left Harvard to become a newspaper reporter for
  The Washington Post.
• Began writing fiction about Vietnam

35
Works by Tim OBrien

• If I Die in Combat (1973)
• Northern Lights (1975)
• Going after Cacciato (1978)
• The Nuclear Age (1985)
• The Things They Carried (1990)
• In the Lake of the Woods (1994)

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Tim O'Brien BiographyCurrent Whereabouts

• Is currently a visiting professor and chair at
  Southwest Texas State University where he teaches
  in the Creative Writing Program

37
Tim OBrien

• Claims he still gets calls from people, asking
  questions, offering their own opinions about what
  happened.
• They want to know, missing the point of the
  novel, that life often does not offer solutions
  or resolutions, that it is impossible to know
  completely what secrets lurk within people

38
Abbreviations found in The Things They Carried
Abbreviation Part of speech Definition
SOP N Standard Operating Procedure
CO N Commanding Officer
PFC N Private First Class (rank)
RTO N Radio Transmissions Officer
LP N Language/Listening Patrol
CS N Tear gas
MRE N Meal ready to eat
VC N Viet Cong
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Resources
http//www.indexmundi.com/vietnam/demographics_pro
file.html http//www.illyria.com/tobsites.html
pbs.org