TTTC Reading Assessment Practice

Explain the significance of the following quotations.  How do they highlight a key theme or idea from the book as a whole?  Where does the quote come from - in other words, what is the context?

"In a way I wanted to stop myself.  It was cruel, I knew that, but right and wrong were somewhere else.  This was the spirit world."


"But you can't say that.  All you can do is tell it one more time, patiently, adding and subtracting, making up a few things to get at the real truth.  No Mitchell Sanders, you tell her.  No Lemon, no Rat Kiley.  No trail junction.  No baby buffalo.  No vines or moss or white blossoms.  Beginning to end, you tell her, it's all made up.  Every goddamn detail--the mountains and the river and especially that poor dumb baby buffalo.  None of it happened.  None of it."


"Because late that same night he borrowed a pistol, gripped it by the barrel, and used it like a hammer to break his own nose."


"Then he burned the two photographs...He realized it was only a gesture.  Stupid, he thought.  Sentimental, too, but mostly just stupid.  Lavender was dead.  You couldn't burn the blame."


Symbolism:  Characters as symbols.

Consider how the men in the Alpha company function as symbols.  How does Azar function as a symbol in the book?  What sort of man does he represent?  Think specifically about the situation with Bobby Jorgensen at the end of the book to help you.

What does Linda symbolize?

TTTC - Rhetorical Analysis Practice

Examine the last paragraph on pg. 143 in "Speaking of Courage" and answer the questions that follow.

1. Describe the primary purpose of this paragraph.

2. In the beginning of the paragraph, O'Brien writes, "he took pleasure in the steady sounds of the engine and air conditioning."  Reflect on the "steady sounds" and how/why these may be a comfort to Bowker.  How do these "steady sounds" connect to his constant driving around the lake?

3. Through Bowker's eyes, O'Brien describes how the town "looked as if it had been hit by nerve gas, everything still and lifeless, even the people."  What does this perspective suggest about how the war has affected how Bowker views the world?  Be specific.  Think about his specific choice of words here and what they mean.

4. O'Brien repeatedly uses personification in this paragraph.  Identify some examples of personification and the significance they have on the paragraph's tone and purpose.

5.  O'Brien uses the adjectives brisk and polite twice at the end of the paragraph.  To what purpose?  Consider the connotations of these two words and their particular significance.



Now read the following paragraph from later in the chapter, on page 150.

A good war story, he thought, but it was not a war for war stories, nor for talk of valor, and nobody in town wanted to know about the terrible stink.  They wanted good intentions and good deeds.  But the town was not to blame, really.  It was a nice little town, very prosperous, with neat houses and all the sanitary conveniences.


Think about these two paragraphs together and how they exemplify the theme of this chapter.   How do these paragraphs explain Bowker's suicide?

Research Based Synthesis Essay

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TTTC - "Sweetheart..." Discussion Questions

“Sweet Heart of the Song Tra Bong” Discussion Questions

1.  In “Sweetheart of Song Tra Bong,” how does O’Brien set us up for Mary Anne’s transformation?  What clues does he drop along the way?

2. O’Brien uses many items as symbols.  Identify one tangible item that could be symbolic.  What might it represent?

3.  Find a specific quote from the chapter that illustrate Mary Anne’s change. What does the quote specifically signify about the nature of Mary Anne’s change?

4. Identify and discuss one theme that comes up in the story.  Remember that a theme is a big idea that transcends literature and suggests something about real life.  For example, a theme from the first chapter could be that our emotions (fear, shame, regret) have a tangible weight that we must carry.

5.  Reread the cave scene.  What has Mary Anne become?  Make a list of all of graphic imagery (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory) from that scene.  What feelings do these images conjure up?

6. Reread the last paragraph of the story and analyze its rhetoric:

            But the story did not end there.  If you believed the Greenies, Rat said, Mary Anne was still somewhere out there in the dark.  Odd movements, odd shapes.  Late at night, when the Greenies were out on ambush, the whole rain forest seemed to stare in at them—a watched feeling—and a couple of times they almost saw her sliding through the shadows.  Not quite, but almost.  She had crossed to the other side.  She was part of the land.  She was wearing her culottes, her pink sweater, and a necklace of human tongues.  She was dangerous.  She was ready for the kill.

What is the impact of this final paragraph?  What choices does O’Brien make to create a certain effect? 

Think about DIDLS:

-What details does he include or exclude?

-What images does he create?

-Identify one or two specific word choices that have significant connotations. 

-What is the language like?  Does he use any figurative language?  To what effect?

-What is the syntax like?  Does he use repetition?  Meaningful juxtaposition?  Long sentences?  Short sentences?  Meaningful punctuation?

How do all of these elements contribute to the tone (attitude towards the subject) and the mood (feeling) of this final paragraph? 

The Things You Carry - Final Revision

As you put the finishing touches on your writing piece, consider the following:

-What dominant impression have you created of this particular role in your life?  How have you considered DIDLS (details, imagery, diction, language, and syntax) in creating this impression?

-Do you want to show more than one side to this role?  If so, have you done so?

-What choices have you made about how paragraphs are set up?  Look back at TTTC for models.  Do you have some paragraphs that focus on tangible items and some that focus on intangible items, or are the two mixed together?  Does each paragraph focus on something specific, and does it begin and end with a deliberate image, detail, or idea?

-How have you begun your piece?  How have you ended it?  What impression does your beginning and ending create?

-What are your sentences like?  Have you made active choices about punctuation (dashes, commas)?  Have you made active choices about sentence length?

-Have you proofread your essay for spelling, capitalization, punctuation, comma usage, and all of the other conventions on your glossing sheet?

-Does your piece have a title?

-Do you have a proper MLA style heading?

-Have you double spaced?

A True War Story

Read the following article from the New Yorker, "The Scene of the Crime", about a true war story from Vietnam.

As you read it, consider ways in which it relates to what O'Brien tells us a true war story is.