Topics for Your Consideration

The following are not EXACT topics that could appear for you to select on the final essay, but could be similar to what you might see:

• Who are the storytellers of Alpha Company? What do they have in common? What stories do they tell? Why do use exaggeration? What is they want from their audience/readers? 
• Stories that might help: "How to Tell a True War Story," "The Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong," "Good Form," "Lives of the Dead"
• Tim O'Brien says that stories can "save us." What does he mean? He also says stories can bring the dead back to life? Use examples from the book to illustrate what he means. How does this even connect the story of Linda to the men who were lost in Alpha Company?
•  "Good Form," "Lives of the Dead" 
• Paradox and irony are close companions in this novel. For example, in the story "How to Tell a True War Story," Tim O'Brien says the truths are "contradictory." He notes for example, that war is indeed "hell" and that it "makes the stomach believe." He tells the story of the baby water buffalo that is killed slowly and cruelly as evidence; yet he adds that for all its ugliness, war is also beautiful. What does evidence goes he give from the story to support this statement? Ultimately, at the conclusion of the story he says that the stories he tells are "not war stories," they're "love stories." What does he mean by that? [It is by the way, another paradox.] In what paradoxical [and ironic] way does cowardice lead these young men to perform courageous deeds?
• "How to Tell a True War Story," "On the Rainy River," "Enemies" and "Friends"
• Explain the difference between "happening-truth" and "story-truth," as O'Brien distinguishes it. What does story-truth do that happening-truth cannot? In what way does the fiction of Tim O'Brien become more believable and truer than happening-truth. Give examples from the book to support your answer.
• "Good Form," "Notes" --other stories as well
• IF there are any questions about character in this novel that could develop into an essay topic, it might be this: Which two soldiers are the most important to Alpha Company and in what way? -- Needless to say, support with evidence.
• Depends on who you choose