Section outline

◄Topic 11

  • Projects -- Cumulative High School Career & Individually-Extended Project

    Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried and Vietnam Veterans

    Summary of Proposed Project

    After I read the short story or essay "How to Tell a True War Story" by Tim O'Brien, I became interested in his message.

    For my project, I would like to read his book of essays/short stories, The Things They Carried, and interview some Vietnam veterans to find out about some of their experiences.  I would like to write a paper that explores the experiences of Vietnam veterans and their feelings about the war and compares what they went through to the stories and themes that are explored by Tim O'Brien in his book.
    • Self-Directed Project -- Summary Proposal -- The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien Page
    • Teacher Approval for Self-directed Project Forum

    • The Rationale for my Self-directed Project

      1. What knowledge, skills, or abilities have you gained as a result of your project?

      2. What do you consider to be a major strength of your project?

      3. Knowing that there is always room for improvement, what is one thing that you would do differently?

      4. Which part of the project proved to be the most difficult for you?

      5. In the future, how might you apply what you have learned?

      Over the course of this project, my eyes were opened to many aspects of war that I had never considered. I started my project by reading Tim O’Brien’s book The Things They Carried to get a better understanding of the types of experiences that the soldiers who fought in the Vietnam War experienced and to prepare me for the upcoming interviews. I was somewhat shocked at some of his descriptions of war and his attitudes about he experienced.

      Using this information, I developed a list of questions to use in my interviews of Vietnam veterans. I also enlisted the help of Colonel Innerst to identify local Vietnam Vets so that I could start the interviewing process. He helped in identifying a number of vets, and so I started the interviewing process, sometimes talking to several former marines at the same time. Again my eyes were opened to atrocities of war, and those stories and accounts from the interviewees gave credibility to Tim O’Brien’s book and essay that had been read earlier.

◄Topic 11