American Literature

Contemporary United States (1968 to the present)

This collection uses primary sources to explore Tim O&#39;Brien&#39;s novel, The Things They Carried.

A letter from Bobbie Lou Pendergrass to President Kennedy upon the death of her brother, February 18, 1963. 

A clip from a U.S. Army film, “Why Vietnam?,” which explains the motivation for US involvement in the Vietnam War.

A television news clip, aired October 13, 1971, of anti-war displays in front of Memorial Hall at the University of Georgia in Athens.

A photograph of Army nurse Diane Kay Corcoran working in an operating room in Long Binh, Vietnam in 1970.

A photo of Vietnam veterans in wheelchairs protesting the Vietnam War in Los Angeles.

A photo of veterans and visitors at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the day before its official dedication in 1982.

A photo of a student protester carrying a sign depicting a burned draft card, 1969.

A 1966 photo of an American soldier motioning to a woman refugee to keep her children's heads down during a fight with Viet Cong.

A photo of a Viet Cong soldier crouching in a bunker with an SKS rifle, 1968.

An excerpt from the transcript of 1970 hearings investigating the My Lai incident, the mass slaughter of unarmed citizens by US soldiers.

A television clip of “man-on-street” interviews with people to find public opinion of My Lai trials, 1971.

The Seventh Special Forces Group Airborne green beret, 1964.

A photo of a US Army soldier directing an approaching helicopter to pick up the injured after a paradrop in South Vietnam, October 1966.

A photo of a military pack with canteens and guns, circa 1969-1970.

Questions

1. In the chapter “In the Field,” Lieutenant Cross rehearses the letter he is going to write to Kiowa’s father explaining his son’s death. How is the [letter from Bobbie Lou Pendergrass to President Kennedy](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-things-they-carried-by-tim-o-brien/sources/301) similar? How is it different?

2. Using photographs and television clips in this set, identify similarities and differences between forms of protest during the Vietnam War and today. How do characters in *The Things They Carried* express dissent or ambivalence toward the Vietnam War?

3. In the chapter “Spin,” Tim O’Brien writes: “On occasions the war was like a Ping-Pong ball. You could put fancy spin on it. You could make it dance.” Explain the “fancy spin” the U.S. Army puts on the war in the [clip from a U.S. Army film](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-things-they-carried-by-tim-o-brien/sources/302).

4. O’Brien arrived in Vietnam a year after the My Lai massacre of 1968. After reading the [excerpt from the transcription of the 1970 military hearings](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-things-they-carried-by-tim-o-brien/sources/310), explain how Tim O’Brien (the character) might have reacted to learning about this atrocity? Find a piece of textual evidence from the novel to support your argument.


Activity

Imagine you are a soldier fighting in the Vietnam War; however, in some anachronistic twist of fate, you have an iPhone that captured the [photograph of Army nurse Diane Kay Corcoran](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-things-they-carried-by-tim-o-brien/sources/304), the [photo of an American soldier motioning to a woman refugee](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-things-they-carried-by-tim-o-brien/sources/308), the [photo of a Viet Cong soldier crouching in a bunker](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-things-they-carried-by-tim-o-brien/sources/309), the [photo of a US Army soldier directing an approaching helicopter](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-things-they-carried-by-tim-o-brien/sources/313), and the [photo of a military pack with canteens and guns](http://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-things-they-carried-by-tim-o-brien/sources/314), all of which which you instantly uploaded to Instagram. Create hashtags and captions for each of these images.

Teaching Guide: Exploring The Things They Carried

Resources

1. [Activism in the US: Anti-War Activism](http://dp.la/exhibitions/exhibits/show/activism/anti-war-activism), Digital Public Library of America. 

2. [Collection of Vietnam-related videos](http://dp.la/search?page_size=100&provider%5B%5D=WGBH&q=vietnam&utf8=%E2%9C%93), WGBH, Digital Public Library of America. 

3. [Teaching With Documents: The War in Vietnam - A Story in Photographs](https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/vietnam-photos/), the National Archives and Records Administration.

4. [Battlefield: Vietnam](http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/), PBS. 

5. [Windows on Asia: Vietnam](http://asia.isp.msu.edu/wbwoa/southeast_asia/vietnam/history.htm), Michigan State University. 


Overview

*The Things They Carried* is a critically-acclaimed literary exploration of soldiers’ experiences in the Vietnam War, which was one of the longest and most divisive conflicts in American history. Starting in the 1960s, the United States formed an alliance with South Vietnam to fight communist takeover by North Vietnam and its allies, the Viet Cong. This alliance escalated to a ground war that lasted a full decade, from the first major deployment of US troops to Vietnam in 1965 to US evacuation of Saigon in 1975. The US spent billions of dollars and suffered 58,000 casualties in an increasingly unpopular and unsuccessful attempt to achieve its goals. Based on author Tim O’Brien’s experiences, *The Things They Carried* was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award. Several sections were printed in *Esquire* magazine and *The Best American Short Stories* before the book’s publication in 1990. *The Things They Carried* helps readers understand both what the war was like and the ambivalence Americans felt. It combines humor and horror, fact and fiction, and irony in order to portray American soldiers with compassion.


English

*The Things They Carried* by Tim O’Brien

things-they-carried-tim-obrien_04_d8b5b657e64ad997aeb1990800582d76.jpg

Courtesy of University of North Carolina at Greensboro via North Carolina Digital Heritage Center.

“Diane Kay Corcoran working in the hospital, Long Binh, Vietnam,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/d8b5b657e64ad997aeb1990800582d76.

A photograph of Army nurse Diane Kay Corcoran working in an operating room in Long Binh, Vietnam in 1970.

Cite this item

Tips for Students

Item 4 of 14 in the Primary Source Set The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien