The Last five sections

In the last five or so sections of the book, we see dramatic changes and suprising things be revealed. What do you think about specific occurences throughout any of these sections?

Real truth vs. story truth

A big theme of this book is real truth and story truth. What do you think the difference between the two is, if any, and how do you think this affects the people in Vietnam?

(Non) mourning of Kiowa's death

Why do you think the soliders wanted to just move on immediately when Kiowa died instead of giving him a proper military funeral? Does this reflect in any way the general tendency of society?

The Effects of War on the Soldiers

What to you all think of the way the war has affected the main characters in TTTC? In other words, how has it brought out different aspects of characters' personalities that had previously been latent?

TTTC and Ceremony

Just a thought. What kind of parallels, if any, can you draw between this and "Ceremony"? You know, that book we read way back when. I think it's interesting because I noticed that there are some similarities, but I want to hear your perspective.

Almost Crossing the river

In the first section, O'Brian was faced with the desicion whether or not to go to Canada. He was halfway across the river when he decided to turn back. Do you think this was a smart decision? Was he a coward for trying to avoid the draft? Or, was he a coward for not going with his own desires and beliefs?

I know we discussed this in class already, but I'm trying to cover the whole book with this blog in order to get the most credit.

First thoughts on "The Things They Carried"

So we've been reading this book for a while. What were your first thoughts and impressions on stuff like characters, plot, scene, and significant events?

Feel free to comment as you wish!