The Things They Carried Research & Context

11/8/2017

“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.” - from The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

Let's build some context about the backdrop of our next novel, The Things They Carried by a masterful writer and storyteller, Tim O'Brien.

While you could read and appreciate this text without the historical context, it will punch harder by learner the severity and social context of the Vietnam War.

That's what this work is about: learn what you can about Vietnam -- why we were there, why it was controversial, and what America was like.

Your task: Research the Vietnam War to build background knowledge and context.

Directions:

1. Research the Vietnam War. Consider timeline of events, impact of war in America, the draft, controversy surrounding war, political consequences, lasting effects of war, and so on.

2. Provide 3 interesting and meaningful facts about this event by commenting on this blog post. Take care to use a reliable source and cite it in your comment. No Wikipedia and no "answers" sights.

**The catch? No repeats! Let's gather up as much information as we can to help create the backdrop for this truly inventive and moving novel.

8 Comments

Garrett Grimes link

11/8/2017 10:39:19 am

The Vietnam War is the commonly used name for the Second Indochina War
By the end of 1967, there were 540,000 American troops in Vietnam
The Vietnam War was the longest in U.S. history until the Afghanistan War

Alyx Calvert link

11/8/2017 10:45:31 am

In Vietnam, they called the war the “War Against the Americans to save the Nation.” North Vietnam fought to have the entire country together under one communist rule, just like China and the Soviet Union. Contradicting them was the South Vietnamese government, who wanted to model the West instead.

Kaleigh Vance

11/9/2017 06:55:33 pm

The U.S first got involved in Vietnam in 1954

A majority of the men who fought in Vietnam volunteered

Richard Nixon ended the Vietnam War but invaded Cambodia first

Brandon Carter link

11/12/2017 10:07:27 pm

The Vietnam War was the longest in U.S. history until the Afghanistan War (2002-2014).

The U.S. suffered over 47,000 killed in action plus another 11,000 noncombat deaths; over 150,000 were wounded and 10,000 missing.

By the end of 1967, there were 540,000 American troops in Vietnam, and the military draft was set to call up 302,000 young men in the coming year, an increase of 72,000 over 1967. Financial costs had risen to $30 billion a year.

Kobe Frederick link

11/13/2017 11:04:17 am

The Vietnam War was the longest in U.S. history until the Afghanistan War (2002-2014). The war was extremely divisive in the U.S., Europe, Australia, and elsewhere. Because the U.S. failed to achieve a military victory and the Republic of South Vietnam was ultimately taken over by North Vietnam, the Vietnam experience became known as “the only war America ever lost.”

Catalina lemus

11/13/2017 11:07:43 am

Nearly two-thirds of the American men serving the war were volunteers.

Vietnam war, which lasted for approximately 20 years, is the longest war in the entire U.S history.

Vietnam was under Chinese rule for roughly a thousand years until 938 AD.

John Hostler link

11/13/2017 04:58:53 pm

The United States military lost in Vietnam almost 10,000 aircraft, helicopters and 578 UAVs (554 over Vietnam and 24 over China)

14 North Koreans were killed in the Vietnam war

849,018 Vietnamese fighters were killed, compared to the US, who lost 313,000 (Estimated)

Caitlin Frye

11/13/2017 07:39:21 pm

*The Vietnam War was a manifestaion leading of the Cold War between the U.S and Soviet Union and other respected allies.

*Not until 1995 did Vietnam release its official estimate of war dead: as many as 2 million civilians on both sides and some 1.1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong fighters.

*Antiwar protest groups formed on many of the nation's campuses; in June, the leftist organization Students for a Democratic Society decided to make the war its principal target.

Class Blog

The Things They Carried Research & Context

Leave a Reply.

Author

Archives

Categories