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Title: The Things They Carried
Author: Tim O'Brien
Age level: High School
Recommended by: Lynn Lemmon, Palm Harbor University High School, Florida Summary: The Things They Carried
is a series of 22 related stories about the author's experiences as part of an infantry platoon in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Each story focuses on one or more of the platoon members. In their entirety, these stories run the gamut from O'Brien considering dodging the draft by fleeing to Canada, through the ugly realities of the war, to one platoon member's feelings of alienation upon returning home at the end of the war. This book, which captures the attention and hearts of every member of the class, provides infinite opportunities for students to explore their own feelings about war.
Teaching suggestions:
This generation's students tend to know little about the Vietnam conflict. Therefore, a good way to start is by having students work in pairs to research answers to self-generated questions about the war. Students can write their questions in bold print on 4" x 6" note cards, accompanied by their answers to those questions and a copy of a related photo. After presenting their information to their classmates, they can glue their work on a shared piece of poster board, making a collage of information about the Vietnam conflict. During reading, groups of students can be assigned individual characters to trace and map. Following the reading, each group can then present the information they gathered about their character, summarizing that character's personality. Midway through the reading, students can write short personal responses to the question
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Fight or flight? About two-thirds of the way through the reading, the remaining stories can be assigned to groups to present to the class. It is likely that one or more of the students will have a father who served in Vietnam. An excellent close to the unit is to have one of these parents speak to the class about his experiences.
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