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The Things They Carried

The Things They Carried. Discussion “Friends,” “Enemies,” “How To,” and “Dentist” “In war you lose your sense of the definite, hence your sense of truth itself, and therefore it's safe to say that in a war story nothing is ever absolutely true” . Quick Questions.

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The Things They Carried

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  1. The Things They Carried Discussion “Friends,” “Enemies,” “How To,” and “Dentist” “In war you lose your sense of the definite, hence your sense of truth itself, and therefore it's safe to say that in a war story nothing is ever absolutely true”

  2. Quick Questions • What is the goal of any good story? • What are some of the most effective techniques used by authors to tell good stories? • Which kind of stories (fiction or not) stick in your mind/memory the longest? • Do you ever exaggerate stories to make a point or stress something? • Do you find that an author’s credibility or past experiences really affects the way you read their work? Y N • Do you ultimately think stories that are based in factual happening are more persuasive or have more validity? Y N

  3. Frenemies • “Jensen couldn’t relax. Like fighting two different wars, he said. No safe ground: enemies everywhere. No front or rear…The distinction between good guys and bad guys disappeared for him”(68). Explain the relevance of this quote. • Why include the paired chapters “Enemies” and “Friends”?

  4. A. True War Stories…. • O’Brien defines a “true war story” throughout “How to Tell a True War Story.” What are the qualities of a “true war story,” according to O’Brien? • What do you make of his definition of “truth”?

  5. B. Storytelling: Creating the “gut feeling” • Explain story truth vs. happening truth. Give a definition and an example for each. Are the “story truth” or “happening truth” stories more true? • How many times are we told the story of Curt Lemon’s death? What are the differences in the way the story is told? The point? • What really matters about stories to O’Brien? Do you agree that telling several versions is more likely to impact the most amount of people in the deepest way?

  6. C. “How to Tell” and “Dentist” • 1. Read O’Brien’s generalizations about war on 86-88 and how it can be experienced. Can you relate to any of this? If so, to what parts of your life do these comments connect? • 2. What point about bravery does O’Brien make in “Dentist”?

  7. “A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done. If a story seems moral, do not believe it. If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie. There is no rectitude whatsoever. There is no virtue. As a first rule of thumb, therefore, you can tell a true war story by its absolute and uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil”

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