The Things They Carried
by Tim O'Brien
"The Ghost Soldiers"
1. Where was Tim’s second wound?
2. How long did Jorgenson take to get Tim during the battle?
3. How is this different than Rat Kiley’s response when Tim was shot the first time?
4. What was wrong with Jorgenson?
5. How did his feelings about his wound and his recovery affect his feelings about Jorgenson?
6. What did Tim have to do, "three times a day, no matter what"?
7. How has Tim’s relationship changed with his old unit?
8. How does Azar help Tim? Why does this surprise you or not surprise you given Azar’s history?
9. What did Tim become as he watched Jorgenson reacting to the noisemakers?
10. Explain the following quote: “I felt something shift inside me. It was anger, partly, but it was also a sense of pure and total loss: It didn’t fit anymore. They were soldiers, I wasn’t…A funny thing, but I felt betrayed” (198).
"Night Life"
1. What happened to Rat after five or six days?
2. What did he keep talking about?
3. What did Rat start to picture after awhile?
4. What did Rat do to himself the next morning?
5. How does Cross say he’ll explain what happened?
"The Lives of the Dead"
1. What can stories do?
2. What did the soldiers do with the body they found in the bombed out village?
3. Why do they act this way?
4. How did Tim respond to what the soldiers did?
5. What did Kiowa say about Tim’s actions?
6. What did Linda wear on her head?
7. What did Nick do one day in the classroom?
8. What did the class find out about Linda?
9. Who walked her home that afternoon and what does that tell you about his character?
10. Why do you think the narrator includes the story of Linda intermingled with a story of Vietnam? What is the significance of the story?
11. What can you steal in a story? What can happen?
12. Based on the last page, what do you think Tim’s purpose was in writing this story?
13. The title of the book is an implied metaphor. What were really the things they carried?