Socratic Seminar Prep Due: March 25/26
Choose three questions total – two from list A, and one from list B. Type your
answers. Submit them to turnitin.com. Print out your answers. Bring them to
class.
Tim O’Brien plays with the line between fiction and non-fiction in an aggressive
way, which makes the reader wonder: “Wait, is this part true?” His narrator has
the same name as the author – and he includes notes and excerpts from letters,
which confuse the reader. He uses the form of non-fiction (appropriation) but the
book is all made up.
Do this:
1. Re-read (or read for the first time) the following segments of TTTC
a. “Notes”: pgs: 155 –157
b. “Good Form” pgs: 179-180
2. Choose three of these questions to answer in writing – two from list A and
one from list B. Make sure to be thorough in your answers and to refer to
the text if you can. Each answer should be about a paragraph long.
A: Answer one of these text-based questions. You also can create your
own similar question if you’d like.
1. Why did O’Brien write this book? Why do you think he wrote it as a "work
of fiction" rather than as an autobiographical work, or a memoir?
2. What do the following sentences mean? "I want you to know what I felt. I
want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth"
(179).
3. How can the narrator answer his daughter's question in both the ways he
speaks of in "Good Form" and be honest?
4. In "Notes," Tim O'Brien receives a letter from Norman Bowker, the main
character in "Speaking of Courage." Why does O'Brien choose to
include excerpts of this seventeen page letter in this book? What
does it accomplish? Consider for a moment that the letter might be
made-up, a work of fiction. Why include it then?
5. In “Good Form", O'Brien tells two more versions of "The Man I Killed"
story. In the first, Tim simply sees a dead soldier, the one with the starshaped hole in his cheek, lying at the side of the road. "I did not kill him."
Following this, O'Brien admits "even that story is made up." In the second
version, he explains the he merely saw many faceless, dead men. Where
does truth reside in this book? What is the connection between
O'Brien's actual experiences and the events in this book? Why is
O'Brien using lies to get at "the truth"?
6. In "Notes," Tim O'Brien says, "You start sometimes with an incident that
truly happened, like the night in the shit field, and you carry it forward by
inventing incidents that did not in fact occur but that nonetheless help to
clarify and explain it." What does this tell you about O'Brien's
understanding of the way fiction relates to real life?
7. Tim O'Brien once made the following assertion in an interview with Texas
Monthly: "Good movies -- and good novels, too -- do not depend upon
'accurate portrayals.' Accuracy is irrelevant. Is the Mona Lisa an 'accurate'
representation of the actual human model for the painting? Who knows?
Who cares? It's a great piece of art. It moves us. It makes us wonder,
makes us gape; finally makes us look inward at ourselves." What is an
"accurate portrayal?" How does The Things They Carried function as
art? Does it provide an "accurate portrayals?" Of what?
8. In "Good Form," O'Brien casts doubt on the veracity of the entire book.
Why does he do so? Does it make you more or less interested in the
novel? Does it increase or decrease your understanding? What is the
difference between "happening-truth" and "story-truth?"
B: Answer one of these Big Picture Questions – you also can add one to
the list if you would like:
1. What defines war?
2. Is there such a thing as a justifiable war?
3. Do the benefits of fighting in a war (like learning discipline and
come back a stronger person because of the experiences)
outweigh the bad?
4. Given that citizen response may have an effect on the morale of
soldiers, do citizens have a responsibility to support a war, at
any costs or for any reason? At which point do citizens have a
responsibility to support a war effort – at which point do they
have a responsibility to voice opposition? How do we decide?
5. Who gets to define whether a war was worth it? Is victory more
important than life?
6. Was this war necessary? Was winning worth the cost?
7. Is it possible to avoid war?