Enemies and Friends Questions: HANDWRITE YOUR RESPONSES ON A SHEET OF PAPER

1. Using both “Friends” and “Enemies” explain how war distorts the normal codes of society.

2. How does Dave Jensen betray Lee Strunk’s trust in “Friends”?

3. Fill in the blanks with information from “Friends”.

___________________________ said that ______________________________ took his jackknife.

____________________________ said that he did not take it.

The result of this was that Strunk and Jensen _________________________________________.

_____________________________ broke his _____________________________ because he wanted

to ____________________________________________.

This is ironic because ____________________________________________________________________.

 

 

On the Rainy River HW Response Questions: HANDWRITE YOUR ANSWERS ON A SHEET OF PAPER

1. Who is the Lone Ranger that is mentioned on page 37 and 55? Look him up on google if you don’t readily understand this allusion. Why is this character significant?

2. How does fictional O’brien think about the concept of courage? Refer, of course to pages 37-38 of the story but also to the character of Elroy, the events that transpire and the choices fictional O’brien must make.

3. On page 45 fictional O’brien states, “The man who opened the door that day is the hero of my life.” Who is that man and what does he do that makes him so heroic?

5. Consider these quotes and write a paragraph about how they are related:

“They carried their reputations. They carried the soldier’s greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing. Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to” (20).

“It was not courage, exactly; the object was not valor. Rather, they were too frightened to be cowards” (21)

“It was very sad, he thought. The things men carried inside. The things men did or felt they had to do” (24)

“I was ashamed of my conscience, ashamed to be doing the right thing” (49).

“I would not do what I should do” (55).

“I would not be brave” (55).

“I would go to war – I would kill and maybe die – because I was embarrassed not to” (57).

“I was a coward. I went to the war” (58).

 

Love & Spin HW Questions. HAND WRITE YOUR RESPONSES ON A SHEET OF PAPER.

 

1. Summarize “Love” in a sentence or phrase that is at least two but not more than eight words long.

2. Relate this quote from page 26 to the first story in the book. “Many years after the way Jimmy Cross came to visit me at my home in Massachusetts, and for a full day we drank coffee and smoked cigarettes and talked about everything we had seen and done so long ago, all the things we still carried through our lives.”

3. On page 28 there is an allusion to Bonnie and Clyde. Who were Bonnie and Clyde? They are infamous in the United States. Why?

4. “She didn’t understand how men could do those things? What things? He asked, and Martha said, The things men do”(28). Also consider this quote from page 24, “It was very sad, he thought. The things men carried inside. The things men did or felt they had to do.” What does Martha mean? What things do men do? Are these things that only men do? Think about the allusion to Bonnie and Clyde. What’s the relationship between that allusion and this statement?

5. What favor does Jimmy ask fictional Tim to do for him on page 29?

Things to know about the “Spin” chapter/story. Spin has to do with trajectory. You put a spin on a ball to determine the path it will take and ultimately the goal with which it will make contact. We do the same with stories. The spin we put on the basic elements of a story will determine its trajectory and the goal it will make contact with. How you spin the story determines how the listener will understand it. When telling a story you have a goal or purpose.

It’s also important to consider another definition of the word spin: turning around and around and around on a single point. When something spins it is in motion but it covers no ground. Imagine a dancer. Being in spin can mess with your equilibrium. It can throw you off balance, make you dizzy, and make you nauseous. A dancer must lock eyes on one grounding focal point with each rotation in order to maintain balance.

6. What parts of this story relate to the first meaning of the word spin? Make a list and include page numbers.

Example: The story of the chocolate bar and the boy with one leg (30).

The story of the guy going AWOL (34)

7. What parts of the story relate to the second meaning of the word spin? Make a list and include page numbers.

Example: “The remember is turned into a kind of rehappening” (31)

“The bad stuff never stops happening: it lives in its own dimension replaying itself over and over” (31)