The Things They Carried and Vocabulary Study Guide

Multiple Choice

What is a homophone?

• a telephone

• a word that look the same.

• a word that sound the same but have a different spelling.

Multiple Choice

Banksy is one of the most highly acclaimed and provocative street artists in the world, yet no one knows _________ face goes with this popular name.

• whom

• who's

• whose

• their

Multiple Choice

Text occasionally accompanies the _______________ the striking visuals usually speak for themselves.

• images, so

• images, or

• images, and

• images, but

Multiple Choice

The dog wagged ______ tail.

• its
• it's
• its'

Multiple Choice

"The coming decades will likely see more intense clustering of jobs, innovation, and productivity in a smaller number of bigger cities and city-regions."

“Intense” most nearly means

• emotional

• concentrated

• brilliant

• determined

Multiple Choice

The letter Lt. Cross carried was from who?

• Maggie

• Martha

• Mary

• Moesha

Multiple Choice

Tim's first job after college is on a pig farm.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

How do Jimmy Cross and Martha reunite?

• At a college reunion
• They actually don't reunite; they never speak to one another again.
• They marry after the war.
• They serve as missionaries in several third-world countries.

Multiple Choice

What is the outcome of the fight between Dave Jensen and Lee Strunk over Jensen's missing jackknife?

• Strunk blows Jensen's leg off
• Strunk reluctantly gives back Jensen's knife
• Jensen breaks Strunk's nose
• Jimmy Cross breaks up the fight

Multiple Choice

What happens when Curt Lemon is called in to see the dentist?

• Lemon faints.
• The dentist has to pull a tooth.
• Lemon refuses to enter the dentist's office.
• Lemon knocks out one of the dentist's teeth.

Multiple Choice

Carried an illustrated copy of the New Testament

• Kiowa

• Tim O'Brien

• Curt Lemon

• Rat Kiley

Multiple Choice

Carries stories from his time in the Vietnam War

• Tim O'Brien

• Kiowa

• Curt Lemon

• Lt. Jimmy Cross

Multiple Choice

The story that best presents the idea of shame is...

• The Things They Carried

• On The Rainy River

• How to Tell a True War Story

• The Man I Killed

Multiple Choice

The best description of the book is

• A collection of semi-autobiographical stories dealing with experiences of the Vietnam War

• A collection of factual stories dealing with experiences of the Vietnam War

• A collection of fictional stories dealing with experiences of the Vietnam War

Multiple Choice

What is NOT a significant theme from the book?

• Morality and Death

• Patriotism

• Social Obligation

• Storytelling and Memory

Multiple Choice

What event is NOT a turning point for Tim O'Brien in his stories?

• Receiving his draft notice

• Ending a man's life

• Meeting Elroy Berdahl

• Ted Lavender's death

Multiple Choice

In the first chapter O'Brien describes all the things the men had to carry. Why does he take so much time and go into detail with all of these items?

• He wants the reader to sympathize with him.

• He wants the reader to understand the weight of all of the objects.

• He wants the reader to understand the physical and emotional weight the men carried with them.

• He wants the reader to believe he is knowledgeable of the Vietnam War.

Multiple Choice

not enough

• proficient

• insufficient

• terrific

Multiple Choice

the same, never changing, boring

• superfluous

• anonymous

• monotonous

Multiple Choice

not directed about a certain person or thing

• perjoritive

• intransitive

• otherkin

Multiple Choice

“Boom Down” describes the sound of _____?

• Fighting

• Marching

• Death

• Singing

Multiple Choice

What does the following line show about Jimmy Cross's feelings about the Vietnam War?

"... he carried the pebble in his mouth, turning it with his tongue, tasting sea salt and moisture. He had difficulty keeping his attention on the war. On occasion... he would slip away into daydreams, just pretending, walking barefoot along the Jersey shore, with Martha, carrying nothing. He would feel himself rising. Sun and waves and gentle winds, all love and lightness" (8-9).

• He does not want to be in Vietnam, and Martha's stone helps him escape in daydreams.

• He loves his men, and would do anything to protect them.

• He is motivated to win the war, and wants to avoid all distractions.

• Thinking about Martha makes him want to survive the war so he can return home to her.

Multiple Choice

What were Curt Lemon and Rat Kiley doing when Curt was killed?

• Playing with a smoke grenade.

• Fighting

• Playing with a yo-yo.

• Napping

Multiple Choice

What wakes Tim O'Brien up at night 20 years later?

• Pulling Lemon's body out of the tree.

• The buffalo incident.

• Lemon's last words.

• Sanders singing "The Lemon Tree".

Multiple Choice

Who mutilates the water buffalo?

• Tim O'Brien

• Mitchell Sanders

• Rat Kiley

• Curt Lemon

Multiple Choice

Tim wants to tell the lady about the baby buffalo that it isn't a war story, it's a ____________.

• death story

• redemption story

• scary story

• love story

Multiple Choice

According to O'Brien, why is a war story never moral?

• It does not quote the Bible.

• There is never a reward for good behavior.

• It does not prevent people from doing what they have always done.

• Nothing can ever be learned from it.

Multiple Choice

How does O'Brien describe Lemon's death?

• Beautiful

• Hideous

• Evil

• Purposeless

Multiple Choice

What would O'Brien most likely say to readers who want to know which of the events or people in the book are actually real?

• That he, Kiowa, and Norman Bowker are real, although some of the events and other people were changed.

• The book is a work of fiction; none of it is true.

• There is no such thing as objective truth; we all experience our own versions of truth, none being more real than others.

• You have missed the point of the book. The point is not to learn about the absolute occurrences, but to understand the way the soldiers felt.

Multiple Choice

The weight, grief, sadness, and anger of "The Things They Carried" is a form of.

• Theme

• Simile

• Symbolism

• Irony

Multiple Choice

What kind of writing style is the following quote?

"In June of 1968, a month after graduating from Macalester Collee, I was drafted to fight a war I hated. I was 21 years old. Young, yes, and politically naïve, but even so the American war in Vietnam seemed to me wrong" (p.38)

• Meta-Fiction

• Historical Fiction

• Memoir

• Creative Nonfiction

​Creative Nonfiction

When an author crafts his/her words artfully as a fictional writer, but the story is true to their own experiences. Tim O'Brien dedicates his book to his platoon squad that served with him in Vietnam.​

Subject | Subject

Some text here about the topic of discussion

​Meta-Fiction

The breaking of literary tradition between fiction and nonfiction story telling. Tim O'Brien frequently blurs the line between "story truth" (fiction) and "happening truth" (nonfiction). ​

Subject | Subject

Some text here about the topic of discussion

Multiple Choice

What does “Hump it” mean?

• carry something

• shoot at the enemy

• dig a fox hole

• stay in formation

Multiple Choice

What was Kiowa’s weapon of last resort?

• M-60

• Grenade

• Rocket Launcher

• Slingshot

Multiple Choice

What sport did Martha play at Mount Sebastian College?

• Tennis
• Soccer
• Field hockey
• Volleyball

Multiple Choice

Tim O'Brien believes that he was a coward because he went to war.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

courteous and pleasant

• affable

• aggrandize

• amorphous

• archetype

Multiple Choice

to increase in greatness, power or wealth

• insular

• aggrandize

• propensity

• gossamer

Multiple Choice

shapeless, without definite form

• inscrutable

• irrevocable

• amorphous

• erudite

Multiple Choice

an original model on which something was patterned or replicated

• propensity

• contraband

• querulous

• archetype

Multiple Choice

that which surrounds (as an atmosphere)

• aura

• insular

• irrevocable

• gossamer

Multiple Choice

illegal traffic, smuggled goods

• repudiate

• contraband

• aggrandize

• remonstrate

Multiple Choice

scholarly, learned, bookish, pedantic

• insular

• aggrandize

• erudite

• remonstrate

Multiple Choice

thin, light, delicate, insubstantial

• insular

• aura

• amorphous

• gossamer

Multiple Choice

incapable of being understood; impossible to see through physically

• inscrutable

• querulous

• repudiate

• erudite

Multiple Choice

relating to, characteristic of, or situated on an island

• aura

• insular

• remonstrate

• affable

Multiple Choice

incapable of being changed or called back

• remonstrate

• repudiate

• irrevocable

• inscrutable

Multiple Choice

a natural inclination or predilection toward

• aggrandize

• amorphous

• contraband

• propensity

Multiple Choice

Which word is a synonym for argue?

• remonstrate

• querulous

• repudiate

• erudite

Multiple Choice

Which word is a synonym for cranky?

• remonstrate

• repudiate

• propensity

• querulous

Multiple Choice

Which word is a synonym for isolated?

• repudiate

• remonstrate

• insular

• affable

Multiple Choice

Which word is an antonym for intelligent?

• propensity

• inscrutable

• erudite

• irrevocable

Multiple Choice

Which word is an antonym for thick?

• gossamer

• insular

• aura

• amorphous

Multiple Choice

Which word is an antonym for ignorant?

• inscrutable

• aggrandize

• querulous

• erudite

Multiple Choice

What is an antonym for lawful?

• erudite

• inscrutable

• archetype

• contraband

Multiple Choice

What word is an antonym for clear-cut?

• insular

• affable

• amorphous

• gossamer

Multiple Choice

What word is a synonym for increase?

• affable

• aggrandize

• archetype

• aura

Multiple Choice

What word is a synonym for sociable?

• affable

• aggrandize

• amorphous

• aura