The Things They Carried

1. In “The Things They Carried,” the narrator repeatedly mentions the death of which one of his fellow soldiers?

A)   Jimmy Cross

B)   Ted Lavender

C)    Mitchell Sanders

D)   Rat Kiley

2. According to the narrator, what are the men most afraid of?

A)   showing their fear

B)   being wounded

C)    the death of their friends

D)   getting reassigned

3. What does Lieutenant Jimmy Cross do with Martha’s photos and letters after one of his men dies?

A)   rips them up

B)   continues to carry them

C)    sends them back to her

D)   burns them

4. What gift from his father does Kiowa carry?

A)   tranquilizers

B)   a toothbrush

C)    a New Testament

D)   a pebble

5. In “Love,” who does the narrator visit with many years after the war?

A)   Kiowa

B)   Mitchell Sanders

C)    Henry Dobbins

D)   Jimmy Cross

6. What is the average age of the men in the narrator’s platoon?

A)   19 to 20

B)   23 to 24

C)    26 to 27

D)   30 to 31

7. Who is the narrator, as revealed in “Spin”? (short answer)

8. Why does the narrator consider leaving for Canada when he is drafted?

A)   He’s a pacifist.

B)   He’s in poor health.

C)    He doesn’t support the war.

D)   He has a family to think about.

9. Where does the narrator stay along the Rainy River as he contemplates crossing the border to Canada?

A)   Timberline Lodge

B)   Rainy River Campground

C)    Berdahl’s Campground

D)   Tip Top Lodge

10. Where does Elroy Berdahl take the narrator on the last day of the narrator’s stay?

A)   hiking in the mountains

B)   fishing on the river

C)    driving across the border

D)   hunting in the woods

11. Which option does the narrator consider the brave thing to do?

A)   enlisting before being drafted

B)   obeying his draft orders

C)    escaping to Canada

D)   joining the National Guard

12. After Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen fight in “Enemies,” what does Dave Jensen do to make things even between he and Strunk?

A)   shoots himself in the foot

B)   gives himself a black eye

C)    breaks his own wrist

D)   breaks his own nose

13. In “Friends,” what pact do Strunk and Jensen make with each other? (short answer)

14. How does Rat Kiley initially deal with the death of his friend, Curt Lemon?

A) deserts the platoon

B) shoots a baby water buffalo

C) blows up a dog

D) burns Lemon’s personal effects

15. According to the narrator in “How to Tell a True War Story,” which is the mark of a true war story?

A) the lack of a moral

B) brevity

C) generalizations

D) lack of obscenity

16. Why does Curt Lemon insist that the dentist pull a perfectly good tooth?

A) The tooth is bothering him.

B) to get painkillers

C) to make others stop teasing him

D) to prove himself

17. What is Rat Kiley’s job as a soldier?

A) gunner

B) lieutenant

C) radio operator

D) medic

18. In Rat Kiley’s story about Mary Anne coming to Vietnam, why does Mark Fossie come to wake up Rat in the middle of the night?

A) He can’t sleep.

B) He has an important question to ask.

C) He can’t find Mary Anne.

D) He and Mary Anne had a fight.

19. What happens to Mary Anne over the course of her stay at the outpost?

A) She becomes obsessed with the adrenaline of warfare.

B) She becomes increasingly afraid.

C) She starts falling in love with a different guy.

D) She becomes friends with natives at the nearby village.

20. What does Mary Anne do at the end of Rat’s story? (short answer)

21. Why does Henry Dobbins carry his girlfriend’s pantyhose around his neck?

A)   because he misses her

B)   for good luck

C)    for warmth

D)   because he promised her that he would carry them everywhere

22. Who lives in the nearly-abandoned pagoda that Alpha Company uses temporarily as a base of operations?

A)   two Vietnamese women

B)   an old man

C)    an orphan

D)   two monks

23. Which member of the company feels it’s wrong to use the church as a base of operations?

A)   Kiowa

B)   Henry Dobbins

C)    Tim O’Brien

D)   Rat Kiley

24. What attracts Henry Dobbins to the possibility of becoming a minister?

A)   giving sermons

B)   wearing a suit

C)    being kind to people

D)   reading the Bible

25. When the narrator sees the body of the “dainty young man” (105) in “The Man I Killed,” what goal does he imagine that the young man had?

A)   to become a math teacher

B)   to fight for his country

C)    to become a politician

D)   to make money for his family

26. What is one of the physical characteristics of the dead body that O’Brien repeats throughout “The Man I Killed”? (short answer)

27. When the narrator’s daughter asks if he ever killed someone, what is his response?

A)   “Of course not”

B)   “I don’t want to talk about it”

C)    “You’re too young to think about that”

D)   “Ask me again someday”

28. How does the narrator characterize the action of throwing the grenade that killed the young man in “Ambush”?

A)   a premeditated attack

B)   an automatic reaction

C)    an act of self defense

D)   a necessary evil

29. All these years after the war, how does the narrator feel about killing the young man?

A)   He has forgiven himself.

B)   He has not forgiven himself.

C)    He has nightmares about it.

D)   He oscillates between forgiving and blaming himself.

30. Why did the soldiers find it odd that a young girl was dancing in the burned village in the story “Style”?

A) because her movements were unfamiliar

B) because the music she danced to sounded strange

C) because her family was dead

D) because she was smiling

31. What does Henry Dobbins do to show his disapproval when Azar mocks the girl’s dancing?

A) punches Azar

B) fires his weapon into the air

C) threatens to throw Azar into a well

D) steals Azar’s C rations

32. In “Speaking of Courage,” Norman Bowker contemplates telling his father about a medal he almost won, but didn’t. Which medal did he fail to win?

A) The Purple Heart

B) The Air Medal

C) The Bronze Star

D) The Silver Star

33. What does Norman Bowker repeatedly do as he thinks about what he would tell people if he were to talk about the war? (short answer)

34. Who sunk into the murky “shit field” (122) and died? (short answer)

35. How did Norman Bowker die?

A) He was shot.

B) He was in a car accident.

C) He killed himself.

D) He drowned.

36. What does the narrator explain about the act of writing war stories?

A) It prevented him from talking about the war.

B) It helped him process his memories of the war.

C) It made him forget his experience as a soldier.

D) It made him thankful for his experience as a soldier.

37. Who blames himself for Kiowa’s death?

A) Lieutenant Jimmy Cross

B) the young soldier who turned on his flashlight

C) Azar

D) all of the above

38. Lieutenant Jimmy Cross composes a letter to Kiowa’s father in his mind. How do the letters’ contents change over the course of the story “In the Field”?

A) He revises it from taking responsibility for Kiowa’s death to an impersonal expression of condolences.

B) He changes it from a lengthy eulogy of Kiowa’s character to a short presentation of facts.

C) He adds an invitation to meet in person after the war.

D) He first leaves out the exact details of how Kiowa died, then changes it to include the details.

39. In “Good Form,” the narrator makes a distinction between “story-truth” and “happening-truth” (149). Was killing the “dainty young man” (151) a story-truth or a happening-truth? (short answer)

40. When the narrator visits Vietnam with his daughter in “Field Trip,” what item does he bring to the field in which Kiowa died?

A) Kiowa’s new testament

B) Kiowa’s boot

C) Kiowa’s moccasins

D) Kiowa’s dog tags

41. What is surprising to the narrator about seeing the field 20 years after the war ended?

A) The field is still the horrible place he remembered.

B) The field still shows signs of warfare.

C) The field is full of ghosts from the past.

D) The field is peaceful and unremarkable.

42. Why does the narrator hold a grudge against Bobby Jorgenson?

A) Jorgenson did a poor job of treating the narrator’s wound.

B) Jorgenson was the reason Rat Kiley had to leave the Alpha Company.

C) Jorgenson made fun of the narrator.

D) Jorgenson refused to treat the narrator’s wound.

43. After being transferred to a safer and easier assignment, why does the narrator envy his friends who are still in the field?

A) He misses the scenery of the Vietnamese landscape.

B) He misses the camaraderie created by the danger and difficulty of being in the field.

C) He misses hearing Azar tell outlandish stories.

D) He misses the leadership of Lieutenant Jimmy Cross.

44. What does the narrator explain typically happens to a soldier on night guard duty?

A) One loses track of time.

B) One thinks about home and considers running away.

C) One starts to hear and see things that aren’t there.

D) One accidentally falls asleep.

45. How does the narrator’s plan to get revenge on Jorgensen fail? (short answer)

46. When the platoon must sleep during the day and move at night in “Night Life,” how is Rat Kiley affected?

A) He starts getting sentimental about the men in the platoon who have died.

B) His mental health declines considerably.

C) His physical health declines considerably.

D) He contemplates suicide.

47. How did the narrator continue to interact with Linda, even after her death?

A) by sitting in her bedroom

B) by talking about her with his friends

C) by remembering their date at the movies

D) by visiting her in his dreams

48. How does the narrator preserve the lives of his fellow soldiers who died during the war?

A) by telling stories about them

B) by writing them letters

C) by visiting their graves

D) by getting to know their families