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The Things They CarriedBy Tim OBrien

• And in the end, of course, a true war story is
  never about war. Its about sunlight. Its about
  the special way that dawn spreads out on a river
  when you know you must cross the river and march
  into the mountains and do things you are afraid
  to do. Its about love and memory. Its about
  sorrow. Its about sisters who never write back
  and people who never listen.
• How to Tell a True War Story

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Todays Objectives

• Further our understanding of the Vietnam War
  experience from a soldiers perspective through
  poetry
• Critically think about the effect the poems have
  on your reading of the book by reading,
  discussing and ranking the poems by how well they
  connect to the book and help you to further your
  understanding.

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Your Assignment

• Listen to/look at the poems with an open and
  focused mind
• Activate the knowledge you have gained from the
  characters, events and descriptions in the book
  as you recognize similar events, emotions and
  experiences in the poems we read today
• For each poem, write down connections to the book
  on your sheet
• When all poems have been read/discussed you will
  rank the poems from 1 to 7 as to how well they
  allude to the big ideas presented by Tim OBrien
  in our book.
• Which poems help explain the Vietnam soldier/war
  best?

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Please Consider

• TED Talks and blogs. Can these perspectives help
  you make a connection to the poem and the book?
• Class discussions. Have we touched on an idea
  that was echoed in a poem?
• What it means to tell a true war story
• The things they carried (as a concept)
• The climate of the war in Vietnam and in the U.S.
• Your own reading and interpretation of the book
• Characters, events, emotions, etc.
• The story-truth and the happening-truth
• Could there be a poem-truth?

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The Next Step W. D. Ehrhart

• The next step you take
• May lead to an ambush.
• The next step you take
• May trigger a tripwire.
• The next step you take
• May detonate a mine.
• The next step you take
• May tear your leg off at the hip.
• The next step you take

• May split your belly open
• The next step you take
• May send a snipers bullet through your brain.
• The next step you take.
• The next step you take.
• The next step.
• The next step.
• The next step.

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• You have stopped for a break, stand up
• To put your gear on and hear shots,
• See the flash of the muzzles.
• You have been followed.
• The whiteness of the branches
• That have been cut along the way
• Tells you youre on a new trail,
• But the sergeant is a stateside G.I.
• Barracks inspections, rules and regs.
• You are probably surrounded.
• There are five others beside you.
• You are twenty-three.
• You look quickly around you
• The sky, the trees.
• Youre far from home.
• You know now that your life
• Is no longer yours

• First Encounter
• Leroy V. Quintana

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Blood Trail Jon Forrest Glade

• I had a man in my sights
• and I pulled the trigger.
• I knew he would fall,
• but I didnt think
• he would get back up
• and run like a wounded deer.
• We followed the blood trail
• and found only an abandoned pack.
• The lieutenant took the cash,
• the men divided the food,
• Intelligence was sent the love letters
• and I got the credit
• for a probably kill

• Intelligence reported the love letters
• were from a woman in the southern provinces.
• Which meant she was arrested,
• beaten, raped, locked in a tiger cage,
• forced to eat her own excrement
• and beaten again.
• If she confessed, she was executed.
• If she refused to confess, she was executed.
• It was a funny war,
• I shot a man.
• I killed a woman.

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First One Jim Nye

• Roll him over carefully
• Align his body
• on an axis, east to west
• Fold his hands across his chest close his eyes
• He is gone
• But we remember
• and talk softly
• Someone gathers his gear
• Another wipes his face

• We cannot explain
• This
• Avoiding each others eyes
• No one told us
• We did not know.
• To come to this
• After so long a short life
• A child surrounded by children
• Playing---

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Second Lieutenant Parvin Zelmer, U.S.M.C. Bryan
Alec Floyd

• The reason he died?
• He and the platoon came upon
• Three Vietnamese children, ages three, five and
  eight,
• Who were playing with some tied-together pieces
• Of nice, shiny plastic that they had found in the
  grass.
• The Lieutenant stood still
• But ordered the rest of the platoon to fall back.
• Then he asked the kids to put their toy,
• A double booby trap, down gently,
• But they did not understand
• And pitched it to him,
• And it bounced once and went boom,
• Gutting all four of them to shredded death.
• A Congressman, upon hearing of the incident
• From a newspaper reporter,
• Asked the reporter one question
• Was the booby trap theirs or ours?
• And his question was the answer.

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No Lie. GI David Connolly

• We had a deal, he and I,
• Of no bullshit between us.
• If one of us got wounded,
• The other wouldnt lie.
• So when he got hit
• And he asked me,
• Hows my leg?
• I looked him straight in the eye
• And told him, Its fine.
• It looked fine to me,
• Laying over there,
• Looked as good as new.

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Hello, David Dusty, 1986

• Yes, of course,
• I will write your mother
• and tell her you were brave.
• I will write your mother
• and tell her how much you loved her.
• I will write your mother
• and tell her to give your bratty kid sister
• a big kiss and hug.
• What I will not tell her
• is that you were wasted.

• Hello, David- my name is Dusty.
• Im your night nurse.
• I will stay with you.
• I will check your vitals
• every 15 minutes.
• I will document
• inevitability.
• I will hang more blood
• and give you something
• for your pain.
• I will stay with you
• and I will touch your face.

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• I will stay with you
• and I will hold your hand.
• I will stay with you
• and watch your life
• flow through my fingers
• into my soul.
• I will stay with you
• until you stay with me.

• Goodbye, David- my name is Dusty.
• I am the last person
• you will see.
• I am the last person
• you will touch.
• I am the last person
• who will love you.
• So long, David- my name is Dusty.
• David- who will give me something for my pain?

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Guerrilla War W.D. Ehrhart

• Its practically impossible
• To tell civilians
• From the Vietcong.
• Nobody wears uniforms.
• They all talk
• The same language.
• (and you couldnt understand them even in they
  didnt).
• They tape grenades
• Inside their clothes,
• And carry satchel charges
• In their market baskets.

• Even their women fight
• And young boys
• And girls.
• Its practically impossible
• To tell civilians
• From the Vietcong
• After a while,
• You quit trying.

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