Homework: Select and complete 1 of 3 options from below.
Option #1:Does it matter what happened, in the end, to Mary Anne? Would this be a better story if we knew, precisely, what happened to her after she left camp? Or does this vague ending add to the story? Why?
Option #2:“You’re in a place where you don’t belong.” Any parallels to today? How does our lack of understanding of a people and their place destroy us (as it does Fossie)? How does it make monsters of us?
Option #3:Why did Henry Dobbins continue to carry his girlfriend’s stocking even after she broke up with him?
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Homework: Select and complete 1 of 3 options from below.
Option #1:Why do you think she changed? What did the change symbolize? How long did this metamorphosis take?
Option #2:Look up the definition of the word metamorphosis. In what ways (note that this a plural noun) does this word apply to the transformation of Mary Anne?
Option #3:Does it matter that Mary Anne is a woman? How so? What does the story tell us about the nature of the Vietnam War?
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Homework: Select and complete 1 of 3 options from below.
Option #1:Characterize Rat Kiley. After reading the entirety of the story, why does this story seem particularly “true” to Rat? What meaning might he derive from it?
Option #2:Describe Mark Fossie and Mary Anne Bell.
Option #3:Describe the changes in Mary Anne Bell from the time she arrived in Vietnam to be with her boyfriend until the end of the chapter. Be specific and record moments from the text (page numbers and descriptions) that demonstrate how she changed.
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Homework: Select and complete 1 of 3 options from below.
Option #1:Why does this story begin with the line: “This is true.” How does that prepare you, as a reader, for the story? What do you think it means for it to be true? Who is it true to?
Option #2:Find a few of O’Brien’s elements of a “true war story.” (such as, “A true war story is never moral.”) Why does O’Brien believe these elements are important to a “true” war story?
Option #3:Why is the baby water buffalo scene more disturbing than the death of one of O’Brien’s platoon members, Curt Lemon?
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Homework: Select and complete 1 of 3 options from below.
Option #1: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?
Option #2: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? In what sense is a “true” war story actually true? That is, in O’Brien’s terms, what is the relationship between historical truth and fictional truth?
Option #3: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?
How would you tell your story about war? What would you include? Exclude? What would be different about the way you would write a war story?
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Homework: Select and complete 1 of 3 options from below.
Option #1: What was the pact that Dave Jensen & Lee Strunk made together?
Option #2: What was Lee afraid of when he saw Jensen, and what did he make him promise?
Option #3:The phrase that inspires these two chapters is normally characterized as “friends and enemies.” Why does O’Brien (the author) reverse this traditional order when sequencing these chapters?
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Homework: Select and complete 1 of 3 options from below.
Option #1:At the story’s close, O’Brien almost jumps ship to Canada, but doesn’t: “I did try. It just wasn’t possible.” What has O’Brien learned about himself, and how does he return home as a changed person?
Option #2:In this chapter, 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?
Option #3: What do you think about this chapter? Likes? Dislikes? Explain why.
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Homework: Select and complete 1 of 3 options from below.
Option #1:How do the opening sentences prepare you for the story?: “This is the one story I’ve never told before. Not to anyone.” What effect do they have on the reader?
Option #2:What were Tim’s options once he received his draft notice? Who did he hold responsible for his situation? Who did he think should go to war instead of him?
Option #3:Why does O’Brien relate his experience as a pig declotter? How does this information contribute to the story? Why go into such specific detail?
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Homework: Select and complete 1 of 3 options from below.
Option #1:How did Tim feel about the Vietnam War while he was at college? Do his actions and language support the idea that he “hated” the Vietnam war?
Option #2:What were Tim’s options once he received his draft notice? Who did he hold responsible for his situation? Who did he think should go to war instead of him?
Option #3: What does Tim say is Elroy Berdhal’s role in his life? What sort of person was Elroy? How did Tim know?
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Homework: Select and complete 1 of 3 options from below.
Option #1:What could Jimmy Cross never forgive himself for? Explain in 3 sentences.
Option #2: How did Jimmy get a new picture of Martha playing volleyball? Describe in 4 sentences.
Option #3: What does Jimmy ask Tim to do when he writes his story? What does he tell Tim NOT to mention? What does it tell us about Tim O’Brien, the narrator, that he reveals character traits of Cross’s that Cross would prefer to have remain unknown?
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Homework: Select and complete 1 of 3 options from below.
Option #1:Look closely at pp. 13 to the section break on p. 15. How does O’Brien change focus on what the soldiers are carrying? How do the last few sentences of this section add to
the “weight” of things?
Option #2:What would you say the mood of this story is (try to pick a word or a few words) and why? Go past words like “depressing” or “sad.” Reread the beginning and the end of the story, and look back at the section on pp. 13–15 for some ideas.
Option #3: List 3 words which describes the mood of the chapter and then explain each word in a complete sentence.
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