IB Literature Vacation Reading Project: The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
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“Wait till you hear—” “You won’t believe—” “So this one time—” “Once upon a time—”
Does a day ever pass when you do not tell, hear, or read a story? Seriously. Think about it. How much of our daily conversations, our daily lives, are dominated by stories?
Dictionary.com defines a story as “a narrative, either true or fictitious, in prose or verse.” Benjamin Franklin’s famed explanation echoes that stories “are designed to (a) inform, (b) persuade and/or (c) entertain the hearer or reader.” But this does not explain why. Why so many stories? Why this human dependency we have on plot and narrative?
Author Tim O’Brien remarks, “Stories are for joining the past to the future…Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story.”
Poetic, isn’t it? But there is something problematic about O’Brien’s explanation, something that put Vietnam Veterans, not to mention historians ill at ease. O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is a conglomeration of vignettes published in 1990 to a controversial critical response. Originally marketed as nonfiction, the book had to be pulled off shelves and remarketed as fiction. Why? Well, in short, the man lied. These graphic vignettes describing various soldiers’ experiences of the Vietnam War, were not true. O’Brien embellished. O’Brien invented. But did O’Brien lie? Known for its metafictive play on the blurred boundary between fact and fiction, The Things They Carried is, as O’Brien defends, “for getting at the truth when the truth isn't sufficient for the truth.” But then, how does the attempt to reconcile the reality of experience (based on fact) with subjective representation (based on perspective) impact truth? How can we reconcile a collective, historical truth with an individualized, subjective one?
Throughout the next unit, we will attempt to articulate our relationships with what it means to tell a story—and ultimately, what it means to read one. What kind of timeless, transitory power does story have over humanity? What kind of power do stories have over you? Can fiction be true? “Literature is the question minus the answer,” says Roland Barthes, so let us embark on a path paved with questions, the path that lines a paper-thin frontier between fact and fiction, reality and representation, story and truth.
“Wait till you hear—” “You won’t believe—” “So this one time—” “Once upon a time—”
Does a day ever pass when you do not tell, hear, or read a story? Seriously. Think about it. How much of our daily conversations, our daily lives, are dominated by stories?
Dictionary.com defines a story as “a narrative, either true or fictitious, in prose or verse.” Benjamin Franklin’s famed explanation echoes that stories “are designed to (a) inform, (b) persuade and/or (c) entertain the hearer or reader.” But this does not explain why. Why so many stories? Why this human dependency we have on plot and narrative?
Author Tim O’Brien remarks, “Stories are for joining the past to the future…Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except the story.”
Poetic, isn’t it? But there is something problematic about O’Brien’s explanation, something that put Vietnam Veterans, not to mention historians ill at ease. O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is a conglomeration of vignettes published in 1990 to a controversial critical response. Originally marketed as nonfiction, the book had to be pulled off shelves and remarketed as fiction. Why? Well, in short, the man lied. These graphic vignettes describing various soldiers’ experiences of the Vietnam War, were not true. O’Brien embellished. O’Brien invented. But did O’Brien lie? Known for its metafictive play on the blurred boundary between fact and fiction, The Things They Carried is, as O’Brien defends, “for getting at the truth when the truth isn't sufficient for the truth.” But then, how does the attempt to reconcile the reality of experience (based on fact) with subjective representation (based on perspective) impact truth? How can we reconcile a collective, historical truth with an individualized, subjective one?
Throughout the next unit, we will attempt to articulate our relationships with what it means to tell a story—and ultimately, what it means to read one. What kind of timeless, transitory power does story have over humanity? What kind of power do stories have over you? Can fiction be true? “Literature is the question minus the answer,” says Roland Barthes, so let us embark on a path paved with questions, the path that lines a paper-thin frontier between fact and fiction, reality and representation, story and truth.
DOWNLOAD AND READ ALL PROJECT INSTRUCTIONS:
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Part I: Journal Entries (40 Points)a. Read the attached assignment in its entirety b. Read the book! c. As you read, write FOUR journal entries as outlined in the instructions using the template attached above (10 points per entry for a total of 40 points). Due the day of the FIRST CLASS MEETING in July. Late work will result in a deduction of 5 points per day. |
Part II: Questions (100 Points)Answer any SEVEN of the questions as outlined on the following pages in typed, double spaced paragraphs. The Paper 1: Literary Commentary rubric (attached above) will be used for grading on the 100 point scale. Due on the SECOND CLASS MEETING in July with 5 points extra credit if turned in on the first day of class. Late work will result in a deduction of 5 points per day. |