Although your essay will focus on the content and themes from O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, you should also use other sources to support your ideas or to make comparisons (or contrasts).  Again, you can choose to write a traditional argument paper or you can experiment with alternative genres.  Remember, regardless of how you choose to approach this assignment, you must have a strong, clear thesis that creates argument and you must support your argument using both the content from the novel and outside sources.  Use the same format as you did for essay # 1, and your draft packet must include the same items (brainstorming activities, all rough drafts, copies of internet sources, draft from peer editing, peer editing sheet, final draft for grading).

Make a list of some of the major and minor themes that are seen in the novel:

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Make a list of alternative genres that might to illustrate the themes of this novel:

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Major themes from The Things They Carried:

1. Truth  (Happening truth vs. story truth)
2. Bravery/courage vs. fear/cowardice
3. Death
4. Effects of War
5. Role of women in the novel
6. Morality of war
7. Metaphor or symbolism of things carried
8. Loyalty
9. Inner conflicts vs. outer conflicts
10. Reality vs. illusion

Essay Suggestions (These are only suggestions, but if you choose your own topic, discuss it with me first:

1. Explore the meaning of the title The Things They Carried. Think about the metaphor of weight and carrying and how this theme (and the carried things) resurface throughout the book.  You should consider the characters and their personalities as you look at the things carried: literally, personally and metaphorically.
   
   
2. Although the novel is mostly about the men of the Vietnam conflict, there are several women characters (Martha, Mary Ann, Billie, Linda, Kathleen, Dobbin’s unnamed girlfriend, Sally Kramer/Gustafson). What roles do these women play in the novel and how do they affect the men they are associated with?
   
   
3. Compare or contrast two or more characters (ex. Kiowa/Rat)using very specific criteria to do so.  For example, how does each man deal with killing or death or the stress of conflict in war?
   
   
4. Compare/contrast the novel with other books, movies that you’ve read or seen about the Vietnam Conflict.  You could use Heart of Darkness, also.  Two movies that come to mind are Platoon and Apocalypse Now. Again, be very clear about the criteria used to make your comparisons/contrasts.
   
   
5. Explore the theme of conflict (the outer conflict of the war and the inner conflict of the individual).  How do these men deal with the realities of war (and illusions) as soldiers and as individual men?
   
   
6. It’s been suggested that the story “On the Rainy River” is the moral center of the entire novel.  In what ways might this be true?
    
7. Although the work is supposedly about the Vietnam War, the final story focuses not on the war but on an episode from O’Brien’s childhood. Discuss how this story relates to the stories of the war. What is O’Brien’s purpose in ending his collection of stories this way?
   
   
8. O’Brien admits that he plays with truth in his novel and that certain stories are true even if they are not factual.  Explore the theme of truth in this novel.  What does “story-truth” and “happening-truth” mean in the context of the book? 
   
   
9. Discuss the structure of the work. Do the stories progress in a linear manner? How does the work’s fragmented style contribute to the themes that run through the stories?