Name:
The Things They Carried Reading Guide
“The Things They Carried”
1. Why, do you think, does the author jump around in narrative time (e.g. How Ted Lavender is
introduced throughout paragraphs, how the lists of items the men carried shift into plot
exposition)?
2. What happened to Lieutenant Jimmy Cross when Lee Strunk was searching the tunnel, and why
does it matter (pg.11)?
3. According to Mitchell Sanders, what is the moral of finding a dead Viet-Cong soldier and
removing his thumb (12-13)?
a. Write down a complete dictionary definition of the word “moral:”
4. Why is it significant that the men carry and discard so many items (pg 15)?
5. List at least 5 items the soldiers carry that are tanglible (real, capable of being held):
6. List at least 5 items the soldiers carry that are intangible (metaphorical weights):
a. What is the effect of listing so many items in a row? What does the author want you to feel?
7. How does Jimmy Cross change in this story, and why?
8. List what you know about the following men (include jobs, duties, and personality traits,
inferred or stated):

Ted Lavender

Kiowa

Lieutenant Jimmy Cross

Mitchell Sanders

Henry Dobbins

Bob “Rat” Kiley

Martha