War story and dentist test

List some of the elements that, according to O'Brien, compose a true war story.

-War stories are never moral - they contain obscenities and evil -they are embarrassing They are difficult to separate what happened and what seemed to happen -they cannot be believed -They never seem to end

A true war story is...

-never moral (if it seems moral do NOT believe it) -contains obscenities & evil -Embarrassing -difficult to separate what happen from what seem to happen -cannot be believed -never seems to end

how old is rat kiley?

19 years old

How does this person act in the dentist's office? What does he do to redeem himself? Before he went in he was very tense and fidgety and said he wasn't going in, "nobody messes with these teeth." He did go in and feinted before the dentist even touched him.

At first he is very afraid which causes him to faint and he becomes very embarrassed because of it. The next morning he faked a toothache, so the dentist will pull his tooth out and he will do it without fainting and look tough in front of all of his fellow soldiers.

Discuss the opening line, "This is true." How does this line prepare the reader for the story?

He grabs the readers attention and prepares them that the entire story is true in O'Brien's eyes. They want you to pay close attention to the details.

Why does the author say that this story is not a war story, but a love story?

In his stories, O'Brien sees friendships, death, and the beauty in everything to help him cope. He waited 20 years to tell them the story because it's hard & stories connect the past to the future.

Landing zone

LZ

Bloodsucking worm

Leech

field where rice is grown

Paddy

What does the white blossom symbolize for Curt's death?

Purity, life (he is going somewhere else)

Why is the scene where Kiley brutally murders the baby water buffalo so disturbing?

The scene is more specific and does not generalize (states facts). It is very disturbing since it shows the difference of the Buffalo & Curt's death. Curt's death was described in a beautiful war and how sunlight lifted him up. The buffaloes death was disturbing.

O'Brien explains that he can change all the details in his story, such as the names, places, and events, because they are irrelevant in relaying the truth. What kind of truth is O'Brien trying to communicate if not actual fact?

The story has to have things that seem real to make people believe the stories. It needs to make people want to ask questions after hearing the stories.

Explain what the author means about the beauty of war in the following passage: "The truths are contradictory. It can be argued for instance, that war is grotesque. But in truth war is also beauty. For all its horror, you can't help but gape at the awful majesty of combat."

The war produces beautiful friendship's but also there can be death of a fellow brother.

How does Curt Lemon die?

They were playing yellow mother and he stepped on a booby trap 105 round and it blew up.

Explain what is going on in this quotation: "They were just goofing. There was a noise, I suppose, which must've been the detonator, so I glanced behind me and watched Lemon step from the shade into bright sunlight. His face was suddenly brown and shining. A handsome kid, really. Sharp gray eyes, lean and narrow-waisted, "and when he died it was almost beautiful, the way the sunlight came around him and lifted him up and sucked him high into a tree full of moss and vines and white blossoms."

This is a description of the beauty and how curt death was seen by rat Kiley

Food issued by the military

C-rations

Who does rat Kiley write a letter to? Explain the letter and it's outcome

Curt Lemons Sister He explains how Curt got blown up into pieces, says Curt was a good guy, he goes into detail, mails the Letter, & the Sister does not write back.

Who is afraid to visit the dentist? Why is this ironic when compared to his description?

Curt lemon, he's a big tough guy who loves combat but is scared of the dentist.

O'Brien writes about true war stories in the following passage: "In many cases a true war story cannot be believed. If you believe it, be skeptical. It's a question of credibility. Often the crazy stuff is true and the normal stuff isn't, because the normal stuff is necessary to make you believe the truly incredible craziness." Why are normal details necessary in a war story if they are not true?

Details help you grasp what really happened and what went through the soldiers minds during the war

A device used to set off an explosive charge

Detonator

Explain what's happening in this quotation and what it means: "And in the end, of course, a true war story is never about war. It's about sunlight. It's about the special way that dawn spreads out on a river when you know you must cross the river and march into the mountains and do things you are afraid to do. It's about love and memory. It's about sorrow. It's about sisters who never write back and people who never listen."

The purpose of this last paragraph is trying to say that war cab be about anything that's going on during it.

What does Sanders mean when he gives the moral of his story by saying, "That quiet-just listen. There's your moral."

The moral is that nobody listens. Sanders is trying to explain how the moral of the story does not have to make perfect sense for it to be looked at as a moral.

Why does Rat Kiley kill the baby water buffalo? Describe the emotions he experiences.

Rat Kiley is upset about Curts death and becomes angry. He kills the Buffalo to cope with the pain of his best friends death (Curt).

Who does Rat Kiley write the letter to? Why does he put so much detail an effort into the letter?

Rat Kiley writes to curt lemon's sister to let her know that he was his best friend and how much Curt meant to him during the war. Rat hopes his bond with Curt will transfer over to his sister, but she does not return the feeling.

Does Rat receive a response to his letter? How does it make him feel?

Rat does not receive a response, so he becomes angry and despises lemons sister

What details does Sanders add to his story in order to make it more believable?

Sanders adds in the details about the opera & glee club to make the story more believable

Summarize the story that Mitchell Sanders tells O'Brien?

Six men go out in the jungle for six days in silence to listen for their enemy. They think they hear music & voices but they embellish what they hear and spent money on things that weren't real. They called for gunpower & back up. Moral of it was that nobody listens.

Describe the dentist and what he does for the men.

The dentist comes to check the soldier's teeth and do minor repair work.

Explain what's happening in this quotation: "It lay very still. Nothing moved except the eyes, which were enormous, the pupils shiny black and dumb. Rat Kiley was crying. He tried to say something, but then cradled his rifle and went off by himself. The rest of us stood in a ragged circle around the baby buffalo. For a time no one spoke. We had witnessed something essential, something brand-new and profound, a "piece of the world so startling there was not yet a name for it. Somebody kicked the baby buffalo. It was still alive, though just barely, just in the eyes. "Amazing," Dave Jensen said. "My whole life, I never seen anything like it." "Never?" "Not hardly. Not once."

This quotation describes how brutal the buffaloes death was and how it was nothing like the men had ever seen before. The buffaloes death is nothing like lemons death.

Explain how "proximity to death brings with it a corresponding proximity to life."

This quote means that when one gets closer to death they appreciate every little thing in their life. Anything can happen to them at any second, any day.

A self-evident truth

Truism

Game that rat and Kurt played that dealt with playing catch with a hand grenade.

Yellow mother

Were rat and Curt very young when they played yellow mother?

Yes

Characterized by kindness, mercy, or compassion

humane