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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. Which is not a way the men coped with the night mission?

2. What member of the platoon attempts to comfort Tim after he kills a man?

3. Why does Henry Dobbins think the girl is dancing?

4. How many soldiers are said to be in the platoon?

5. How did Tim get the idea for the chapter titled "Speaking of Courage?"

Short Essay Questions

1. What was Tim's first experience with death?

2. What is the purpose of the visit to the battlefield where Kiowa was killed?

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

4. What does the dancing girl symbolize to you?

5. How does Tim react to Bobby Jorgenson's failings as a medic?

6. What is the main struggle for the narrator/author in the chapter "Good Form?"

7. How is Norma Bowker's life before the war and after the war contrasted?

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

9. How do Henry Dobbins and Azar disagree about the girl's motive to dance?

10. Explain who feels blame for Kiowa's death.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The full stories of the men of Alpha Company in "The Things They Carried" are divided amongst the chapters. As the reader progresses, more details of events are given, and multiple points of view of identical events are written. Choose one main character from the company, and give a full accounting of the character's war experience. How can a reader identify with this character's experience, and what part of the man's story is the hardest for the reader to bear? What was the intent of the author when he divided up the character's story? Was there foreshadowing, irony, or any other literary element employed in the character's war experience?

Essay Topic 2

Throughout the war stories in "The Things They Carried," the men carry and discuss a certain superstition for luck. Detail places in the novel where luck is given importance, and explore its role in explaining the events happening around the platoon. How do the men treat the concept of luck? How does the narrator/author wish the reader to interpret luck as it applies to the various characters?

Essay Topic 3

"The Things They Carried" is very specific about the items the men carried into battle. Choose three significant objects and explain who they belong to, why it was considered important, and what the object represented for the soldier and the reader.

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