The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien
Study Questions for Part 2 - Amy Reynolds, Engl 098

"Enemies"

1. Who broke whose nose?
2. What was the effect of the fight on Jensen?
3. What did Jensen finally do to resolve the conflict between them?

"Friends"

1. What was the pact that Dave Jensen & Lee Strunk made together?
2. What happened to Lee Strunk?
3. What was he afraid of when he saw Jensen, and what did he make him promise?

"How to Tell a True War Story"

1. What happens when you "send guys to war"?
2. What were Curt Lemon and Rat Kiley doing when Curt stepped on the land mine?
3. How does O’Brien describe Lemon’s death on pg. 70?
4. Why is it difficult "to separate what happened from what seemed to happen"?
5. What was the mission of the patrol that went up to the mountains?
6. What did they hear while they were there?
7. What did they end up doing about it?
8. On pg. 76, what does Mitchell Sanders say is the moral of his story?
9. What does Sanders later admit about his story?
10. What happened to the VC water buffalo?
11. What did Rat do afterwards?
12. What does "proximity to death" bring with it?
13. On pg. 82, what is the "only certainty"?
14. What wakes Tim O'Brien up at night 20 years later?
15. What did Tim think Curt Lemon must’ve thought killed him?
16. What does the nice middle-aged woman think Tim should do?
17. What does he want to say to her about the baby buffalo, and everything else in the story?
18. According to O’Brien, what is a true war story NEVER about?