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?

Please feel free to write about anything that interested you in the stories on the syllabus for April 13.  Here are some prompts to get you started thinking:

• What do you think is the most important thing we learn in the chapter “Good Form”?
• Discuss the relationship between narrator O’Brien and his daughter in the story “Field Trip.”  How does her reaction to what she’s seeing/experiencing compare to her father’s reaction?  What do you think is the point or main thematic concern of this story?
• What do you think the story “The Ghost Soldiers” adds to the collection?  What aspects of the war does it focus on?  How do you feel about narrator O’Brien in this story?  How does he compare to the narrator as he’s presented in the other stories?

While you’re welcome to comment on anything that interested you in the stories we read for today, here are some prompts you might choose to respond to:

• Talk about the details that the narrator imagines as he invents a life for the young Vietnamese man in “The Man I Killed.”  What do you think is interesting about these details?  Why does the narrator even bother to imagine a life for this young man?
• Talk about how the story “Ambush” comments on and alters “The Man I Killed.”
• In “Speaking of Courage,” what do you think is the symbolic importance of the lake and Norman driving around and around it?
• Why is it significant that it’s the Fourth of July in this story?
• What do you think Norman’s relationship with his father is like in “Speaking of Courage”?
• How does the later story “Notes” comment on or make us rethink “Speaking of Courage”?

For today’s blog, please discuss anything that particularly interested you in the reading for Friday.  The two big stories we’ll focus on are “How to Tell a True War Story” and “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong,” so my prompts are focused on those.

“How to Tell….”

• Why do you think the story begins with the very simple sentence “This is true”?  Is the story true?  How is this assertion carried out/contradicted in the course of the story?
• Discuss the letter that Rat Kiley writes to Curt Lemon’s sister.  What do you think is O’Brien’s point in including this letter?
• Examine the story within the story:  Mitchell Sander’s story about the listening post.  What larger point does it serve in the story as a whole?
• Discuss the end of the story.

“Sweetheart…”

• What is Mary Anne Bell like when she first arrives in Vietnam and how does she change over the course of the story?
• Talk about the “Greenies” and what they seem to represent in the story.
• In many ways, this is a story about boundary crossings. What kinds of borders or boundaries are crossed in this story?  You might think, especially, about a line near the very end of the story:  “She had crossed to the other side.”  What might this suggest?
• How is this a story about story-telling itself?  Why, for instance, does Mitchell Sanders constantly interrupt Rat Kiley, reminding him of the “rules” about good storytelling?
• Is Rat Kiley a reliable narrator?  Why or why not?

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The prompts today will focus on “On the Rainy River,” which is the key story in the day’s assigned reading from The Things They Carried.  Here are some questions you might want to respond to:

• Discuss the theory of courage that the O’Brien narrator says he believed in when he was young (this is in the first few pages of the story). Where do these ideas come from?  What is the main metaphor he uses here?  What’s problematic about this theory of courage?  Do you think he proposes or implies a different idea about courage by the end of the story?
• Talk about O’Brien’s experiences at the Armour meat-packing plant in the summer before he goes to war.  In fact, you might do a close reading of this section.   What is the symbolic significance of this work?  What are we to think when he speaks of the “break” and “leaking” sensation he experiences within himself?  How does this section fit into the book as a whole?
• Discuss the figure of Elroy Berdahl.  How is he described and what is he holding when we first see him and why are these things important?  What does he seem to offer O’Brien?  What function do you think he serves in the story?
• Explore the strange scene in which the O’Brien narrator believes he sees numerous people cheering and shouting for him across the banks of the Rainy River.  What’s going on here?  Why do you think he chooses to include the particular figures he does?  How does this scene shape O’Brien’s subsequent decision (or perhaps non-decision) about whether he will flee to Canada or not?

A summary of the story “The Things They Carried” might make it sound boring since it’s largely organized by lists of the things the men carried.  What about the story do you think elevates it above a mere list?

OR

Discuss O’Brien’s use of the motif of heaviness and lightness in the opening story, “The Things They Carried.”  Identify passages in which he describes things as heavy or light and talk about how these images work in the story.

OR

Talk about the second story “Love” and how the introduction of the first-person narrator, also named Tim O’Brien (like the author of the book), changes or alters your reading of the first story in the collection.

Here are some prompts you might want to respond to for the Malcolm X reading:

• How does Malcolm’s audience differ from King’s?  Do you think these different audiences and situations shape the two works differently?
• Discuss Malcolm X’s ideas in relation to one of the issues we’ve been talking about:  anarchy, the right to revolution, the highest moral authority governing us, etc.
• In his later, King told the 8 white clergymen that he stood between two factions of African Americans.  How does Malcolm also discuss factions in his speech, and how does what he says compare to what King says?
• How does religion shape Malcolm’s speech?

While you’re welcome to respond to anything in “Letter from Birmingham Jail” that particularly interested you, here are some specific prompts you might consider responding to:

• What are the 4 necessary steps in any non-violent campaign that King lays out?  What do you think about these steps and why they are necessary?  Why does King argue for direct action instead of simple negotiation?  Do you find his arguments here plausible?  Why or why not?
• What does King say about the morality of groups versus the morality of individuals (bottom, p. 532)?  How does this compare to Thoreau’s ideas?  To Emerson’s?  To Socrates’?
• According to King, what is the difference between just and unjust laws?  How must one behave in response to each?  Do you think King is advocating anarchy?  How do his ideas on these issues compare to those of other thinkers we’ve read this semester?
• Are there specific ways that you think King’s religious views affect what he’s writing in this letter?  Explain.
• Discuss the rhetorical situation.  What is the occasion for the letter, who is the primary audience, and what constraints do you believe King is working under?  How do these things affect his specific rhetorical choices in the essay (the way he goes about trying to persuade his audience)?

In his “First Inaugural Address,” what does Lincoln say about secession and the danger of anarchy?  Does he believe that secession (revolution) is ever justified? If so, when?   If we want change in the government, how should we go about it?  What do you think either Thoreau or Jefferson or Socrates would say about these views?  Would they agree or disagree?

For today’s blog, I’d like you to offer a brief, rhetorical analysis of Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address.”  In your response, you should discuss the background situation for the speech and how this situation affects what Lincoln says.  You should pay attention to audience and how Lincoln tries to persuade his  particular audience.  Who does the piece seem addressed to?  What techniques of language or allusion does Lincoln use to persuade his listeners?  Finally, think about any constraints Lincoln might have faced.  Are there things that limited what he could say, perhaps due to the historical background, the particular situation, or his desire to persuade?

How convincing is Thoreau’s case for civil disobedience?  Here are some particular questions you might want to think about and respond to:

• How does Thoreau feel about conventional methods of bringing about change (i.e. voting, which entails the rule of the majority, petitioning the government, etc.)
• Is Thoreau arguing that we should break laws whenever we disagree with them?  What safeguards against such arbitrary and individualistic politics does he provide?
• Discuss a particular extended metaphor that Thoreau uses in the essay (for instance, the idea that the government is like a machine).  Do you find the metaphor appropriate, persuasive?
• What is Thoreau’s disagreement with the English philosopher/political/legal thinker William Paley all about?
• How does Thoreau feel about the Constitution and the Bible as sources of truth?  Are these good guides?  Are there any higher?

What do you like and/or dislike about Emerson’s views?  For instance, do you agree with Emerson’s advice to “trust thyself”?  What about his statement that “Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist”?  Do you see any potential problems with this philosophy?

Very briefly sum up some of the items that Stanton is asking for in her “Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions.”  Then, respond to one of the following prompts (or to anything else in the piece that interested you):

• Does Stanton believe that providing more individual rights to women will affect the public good?  How so?
• Why do you think she so consciously models her plea after the Declaration of Independence?
• How do you think her plea for women’s equality compares to Wollstonecraft?  What do they share in common?  Where do they differ?

In the excerpts from A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Mary Wollstonecraft comments on the education of women, the relationship between the sexes, and her views of what a mature marriage should consist of.  While you’re welcome to respond to anything in the reading that you found interesting, here are some prompts to get you started thinking:

• Very briefly summarize what you found to be Wollstonecraft’s most interesting ideas, then comment on whether or not you think any of her observations are still relevant or valuable to women today. How far have we come since 1792, when this treatise was first published?
• How do you think Wollstonecraft’s work addresses the course theme—the individual and the public good?  She writes quite a bit about marriage and family—how does the family affect the individual? Why is the family unit important in the public realm?

• What are some of the reasons that Socrates gives in the “Crito” for refusing to escape?  Do you find his reasoning persuasive?  What do you think you would have done in his shoes?  (Do you believe that what you like to think you would have done matches what you really would have done?)
• Do you find any seeming contradictions between the “Apology” and the “Crito”?  If so, what are they?  Do you think these are real contradictions, or are they surface discrepancies that can be explained upon further thought?

Of course, like always, you’re welcome to respond to either of the prompts above, but you’re also free to respond to anything else in “Crito” that interested you, or to another student’s blog comment.

You’re welcome to respond to anything in “The Apology” that interested you, but here are some prompts to get you started thinking:

• Why do you think Socrates fears being called “eloquent”?  Why does he insist he’s not eloquent, when he really seems to be?
• What is Socrates accused of and how does he defend himself?  Do you find his arguments persuasive?  Why or why not?
• How does Socrates define wisdom?  Do you agree with this definition or not?
• Who or what does Socrates seem to believe is the highest moral authority governing us?
• Discuss Socrates’ views about death and dishonor.  Is one preferable?  Why?  Do you agree?

Remember:  For blog posts, you may reply to one of the prompts I post (see below), but you may also reply to another student’s post or to anything in the work that interests you.

Also:  remember that blog posts are due before class on the day we’re discussing the material.

Prompts for “The COVID Culture War”

• The article claims that COVID vaccinations and masking raise a fundamental philosophical question:  “At what point should individual rights yield to the public interest?”  How would you answer this question?  Do you think there are inherent dangers of focusing either too much on personal liberty or too much on the common good?  What might these be?  Can you define a specific point when individual rights must yield to the public interest?  Can you think of other cases or scenarios that might help illustrate your views?
• Choose a different quote from the article that particularly struck you and discuss it.

For each day we have assigned readings in the course (approximately 16 days altogether), students may post a response to the reading on our class blog. I will provide a prompt for each of these days to get you started thinking. You may respond to the prompt if you like, but you may also respond to other students’ comments, or to anything else that interests you in the reading.  Blog posts are not graded, but they must be on-topic and be at least 150 words to receive full credit for the day.  Ten blog posts equals 100%.  Blog posts are due before class on their due dates.  Late blog posts are not accepted.