From: Randall Brown [brownr@jenkintown.org]
Sent: Thursday, September 19, 2002 14:25
To: AP-English
Subject: [ap-english] Responses to Things They Carried

Today, for seminar, students were to bring in -- along with the story highlighted and annotated -- their responses to O'Brien's short story "Things They Carried/Love." The responses included the following:

1) a student brought in a bag of different sized rocks all labeled -- fear, responsibility, hope, etc.  She said that singularly these rocks may not seem so heavy, but together they become quite a burden.

2) two students sang a rap duet about Lt. Cross's pebble and his loss of Martha

3) a student drew a bag with all the things they carried that the narrator gave an actual weight. Around it, floating it would seem, she listed those things that were never given a weight. The item that weighed the most: the 63 pound Starlight Scope; and that which weighed the least: Lt. Cross's 1 ounce pebble.

4) a student read an analysis of the images of earth, of how Lavender carried too much so he fell to the earth, the earth where Lt. Cross goes under the burden of Lavender's death, the earth of the tunnels; and this he contrasted to the images of the air, of the sky, of where freedom birds fly.

5) a student read an analysis of the style, focusing on why O'Brien didn't save Ted's death for the end, but rather for the beginning, and the continual return back to that death.

6) a student reflected upon the incredible loss of humanity that occurs in war and those efforts people make to hold on to theirs.

7) a student read a poem about Lt. Cross and all he must carry, ending with this stanza: While you long / Troops start to fall. / Better to lead / Than be loved at all.

8) a student read an analysis of the weight of those intangibles in the story that weigh down one's soul more than any tangible object. He looked at the idea of protection through separation, and the desire to retain something pure in a world of pollution.

9) a student drew a picture of a soldier trying to fly but all these attachments hold him down. He hangs there, caught, reaching for the heavens, being pulled to the earth.

10) A student drew a picture of Ted's dead body being "helicoptered" away, the helicopter rising off the top edge of the page while the men remain huddled on the ground.

And so on.


I take absolutely no credit for these responses.  But it was interesting how these very personal, creative initial encounters with the text gave the group a way in, a way to understand, a focus, an interest.  I find that generating an interest in finding out what a text means is sometimes quite a struggle.  Again, these students' responses had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO WITH ME. I was just a spectator.  Now, I must come in and show them how to turn these into  analytical, critical essays.  As a first attempt at something different, it worked well.

Again, just a suggestion for those searching for some ideas.


Randall Brown


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