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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 feeling does the narrator not admit to about the war?

2. How many years has it been since the war for the author, at the time of writing the novel?

3. Who is curious about if the narrator killed anybody?

4. How did Rat Kiley tease Tim to keep him out of shock?

5. Who do the platoon meet in the village?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does the dancing girl symbolize to you?

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

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

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

5. How did the men recover Kiowa's body?

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

7. What power do stories have for people dealing with death?

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

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

10. Contrast the two times Tim was shot.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explain the moral you see in the story of Tim getting even with Bobby Jorgenson. How does the story handle the themes of revenge, forgiveness, and personal responsibility against the back drop of a war?

Essay Topic 2

There are many places where the concepts of right and wrong are blurred in the pages of "The Things They Carried." Ideas of draft dodging, self-inflicted wounds, disrespecting the dead, and even theft are handled with lightness. What do you think the narrator/author is trying to say about the morality of war? Chose a couple of instances in the text where conventional morality is disregarded, and explain the purpose of this device to influence the reader.

Essay Topic 3

Although the book is labeled "a work of fiction," it reads very similar to a memoir- a recollection of events and people from the author's past. Explain any indications that Tim O'Brien may not be a trustworthy narrator. Where in the text are there signs he is leaving something out, or passages where the reader should second-guess his account? Are there particular passages where a reader may be more likely to believe O'Brien's narrative? Use no less than three specific areas of text to evaluate Tim O'Brien as a reliable or unreliable narrator.

(see the answer keys)

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