The Things They Carried
-- Culminating Essay
English III -- Ms. Weiss
●Select one of the topics below.
●You may not use outside sources.
●Due our first day of class in the 2018-19 school year.
TOPICS
1. In “On the Rainy River,” O’Brien narrates events that occur in the months after he receives his draft
notice. He concludes the story by saying that embarrassment and cowardice kept him from fleeing
to Canada: “I was a coward. I went to the war” (58). Explain the irony of this statement, and
evaluate its conclusion. Is O’Brien a coward? How so or how not? Use evidence from this and other
stories in the novel.
2. The Things They Carried
contains a lot of moral ambiguity -- intentional unclearness about good and
bad, right and wrong. Explain how and why O’Brien chooses to portray his characters as morally
ambiguous, citing examples of their actions as evidence.
3. Throughout the novel, O’Brien presents an essential paradox about war: it is horrible and it is
beautiful. Trace some of the ways O’Brien and the other characters experience the contradictions
of war -- both its horror and its beauty.
4. Compare and contrast the ways Tim O’Brien (the character) and Norman Bowker deal with their
war experiences after returning home. Why does one “make it” while the other does not?
5. Soldiers are usually profoundly changed by their experiences in war. Choose at least three
characters from the stories and examine how these characters are changed by their experiences.
What conclusions can you draw from these examples about the effects of war on the human spirit?
6. O’Brien and his fellow soldiers deal with the uncertainty, fear, and death around them in
sometimes surprisingly tender, irreverently funny, or horrifyingly brutal ways. Choose three
characters from the stories to examine how these characters respond to their circumstances. What
conclusions can you draw about soldiers and war through these examples?
ESSAY REQUIREMENTS
Mechanics and Format –
1. Proper MLA format (12-point font, double spaced, etc.)
2. Essay must be a minimum of two complete pages.
3. Proper spelling, grammar, sentence structure, capitalization, punctuation.
4. Page number citations are required for quotations from the novel, like this (75).
Introduction –
1. A hook of at least a few sentences that captures the reader’s interest by relating aspects of your
selected topic to real life
2. A brief summary of the novel; include the author and title (The Things They Carried
by Tim O’Brien
-or- Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried
).
3. A clear thesis statement about your topic (remember: thesis = topic + purpose)
