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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What time of day was it when Tim killed the man on the trail?

2. What landmark was Tim able to recognize in the field where Kiowa died, years later?

3. What was unique about the mission the men were given when Rat Kiley was injured?

4. What Army position did the narrator hold?

5. By what area of the body does Norman Bowker attempt to pull the body out of the muck?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who does Tim go on a trip with and where do they go?

2. What does the dancing girl symbolize to you?

3. How does Rat Kiley cope with the difficult mission of up all night, and sleeping during the day?

4. What does Tim invent about the man he killed?

5. What important information does the reader learn about the story in the preceding chapter?

6. What two types of truth are there for the author and reader?

7. Do you agree with Kiowa or Tim's point of view about the kill? Why?

8. Contrast the two times Tim was shot.

9. Explain Tim's dilemma about how he killed a man on the trail outside My Khe.

10. How does Norman Bowker ultimately cope with returning home?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The "Sweetheart of Song Tra Bong" addresses the theme of acceptance and persons becoming a product of their environment. Explain the transformation Mary Anne Bell goes through from her arrival in Vietnam until her ultimate disappearance, and compare it to some other experience of characters or real-life people becoming the product of their environment.

Essay Topic 2

"The Things They Carried: A Work of Fiction" is described as 22 short stories tied into a novel. Select a chapter from the novel and explain how the title relates to the story, and evaluate if the chapter could stand alone as a short story. Identify its weaknesses and strengths and how it fulfills or fails to satisfy the requirements of a story: beginning, middle and end.

Essay Topic 3

If you were Tim writing a letter to his daughter Kathleen, either at her age now or the age she is in the book, what would be the most important aspects of your experiences in the war that you would want to share with her and teach her about the world?

(see the answer keys)

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