Like usual, you’re welcome to discuss anything that particularly interested you in the reading for today. Because we’re going to be focusing most fully on “The Lives of the Dead,” the final story in the collection, my prompts today are related to that story:
- Why do you think O’Brien chooses to end the book with a story that mostly takes place long before the war itself?
- How does the story mingle love and war together and why do you think it does this?
- How does this final story comment on the power of storytelling in general?
- What’s the significance of the movie that Timmy and Linda go see: The Man Who Never Was?
- How does this final story comment on the theme of courage that we’ve been discussing throughout the novel?