The Vietnam War
• If you had to choose
the 3 most powerful
lessons that you
teach regarding The
Vietnam War…..
• What would they
be?
Bringing Voices of “The Wall” to life
• “Things They Carried” - Tim O’Brien
• “Letters from Vietnam” - HBO Special
• Vietnam War Memorial Research
Workshop
“Letters from Vietnam”
“The Wall was designed
to pull you in and never
let you go…”
Tasks for “Letters from Vietnam”
After watching film with guided study sheet:
• Respond to one letter
• Illustrate your thoughts
• When visiting “The Wall” place letter next
to the soldiers name
• Create a wall in your own classroom
Vietnam Memorial Culminating
Research Workshop
• Take students on line
through a virtual tour
• Some suggested sites:
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–
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virtualwall.org
nps.gov/vive/home.htm
thewallusa.com
wallpics/gallery.htm
For lesson plan ideas on “The Things They Carried,” check out:
http://vccslitonline.vccs.edu/things/in_the_classroom.htm
“The Things They Carried”
Reading Assignments
1. Have students read and compare “The Things They
Carried” with other American war-related literature,
including:
A. Ernest Hemmingway’s “Soldier’s Home”
B. Yusef Komunyakaa’s “To Du Street” and “Facing It”
C. Randall Jarrell’s “Death of the Ball Turret Gunner”
D. Robert Bly’s “Counting Small-Boned Bodies”
E. Michael Herr’s “Dispatches”
F. Walt Whitman’s “Specimen Days”
G. Anthony Swofford’s “Jarhead”
“The Things They Carried”
Reading Assignments
2. Have students read and compare “The Things
They Carried” with news accounts of soldiers in
Iraq.
3. Have students read “The Things They Carried”
with examples from the anthology “Both Sides
Now,” which includes poetry written about the
Vietnam War by Americans and Vietnamese.
“The Things They Carried”
Group Assignments
1. Have students makes lists and groupings of the “things”
the soldiers “carried” in the story. Have them discuss
and analyze the categories of things the soldiers carried.
2. Have students identify the “things” they carry with them
in a variety of settings: school, work, family gatherings,
relationships. Ask them to discuss the role memory
plays in their lives and how it affects their encounters
with new people and new situations.
3. Have students discuss what they know about the
Vietnam War and how that knowledge influences their
understanding of the story. Encourage students who feel
comfortable sharing personal experiences in the Vietnam
War (or any war) or relationships to people who served.
“The Things They Carried”
Research Assignments
1. Have students research other American writers who
have written about war, especially writers who
experienced war themselves like Ernest Hemmingway
and Walt Whitman.
2. Many writers who examine war, including O’Brien, focus
on the psychological aspects of warfare. How does “The
Things They Carried” examine the psychology of
war? Research mental conditions including Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder to learn how war affects men.
3. How do men and women experience war differently?
Based on your reading of war literature by men and
women, research how war affects them differently.
“The Things They Carried”
Film Assignments
1. Pair readings of this story with any number of films
about the Vietnam War. I have found Oliver Stone’s
Platoon and Stanley Kubrik’s Full Metal Jacket to be
the most useful because they follow individual soldiers
and how they react to the war environment and other
soldiers. You might show Platoon in class or combine
one or more film clips with class discussions about the
story.
2. Pair readings of this story with clips from Ken Burns’
Vietnam, particularly those parts of the documentary
that involve the reading of soldiers’ letters home, which
have the same casual feel of much of the writing in
“The Things They Carried.”