POTENTIAL Topics for Final

Remember that you can NOT use the book on your final essay, but you CAN use an index card--either 3x5 OR 4x6, with notes front and back. Write in 3rd person ONLY. (No "you" [2nd person] and no "I / me" [1st person])  Length: 2.5 pages, standard MLA format. Make sure you support your paper with details and examples from the novel. You still must have an interesting introduction, thesis statement, ample development AND a thoughtful conclusion.

I am not allowed to give you the topics of your final essay in advance, but I can promise you they will be drawn from the following:

Storytelling  

• Who are the storytellers and what are their stories; more importantly, why is storytelling important to the teller AND the listener
• In what way is The Things They Carried  not a war story at all, but a "ghost story" and a "love story"?
• Specifically . . . the stories of Rat Kiley and Mitchell Sanders

The Narrator - What decisions and experiences "mark" the narrator, Tim O'Brien for the rest of his life? Why?

Contrasts - In this novel, contrasts are everywhere, from the characters to the country itself; be prepared to discuss any of the following as contrasts:

• Henry Dobbins and Azar
• Courage inspired by cowardice
• the Beauty and Ugliness of the War Itself

Character Interaction - Each of the following characters is involved with the narrator--discuss the importance of each man to Alpha Company and to the narrator:

• Rat Kiley
• Norman Bowker
• Kiowa
• Lt. Jimmy Cross 

I would be sure to have read these stories (note: they are grouped here for your convenience):

"The Things They Carried," "Spin," "Lives of the Dead"- Alpha Co.(& Linda)


"How to Tell a True War Story" - storytelling/Rat Kiley/Mitch Sanders
"Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong" - Kiley/Sanders/storytelling
"The Lives of the Dead" - narrator/storytelling
"Good Form" - storytelling
***** Notice that at least 4 stories are related to storytelling*****

"On the Rainy River" - narrator
" The Man I Killed" - narrator
"Ambush" - narrator
"The Lives of the Dead" - narrator/storytelling
*****Notice that at least 4 stories directly relate to the narrator*****

"Stockings," "Church," "Style" - Dobbins
"Speaking of Courage" & "Notes"- Bowker