"The Man I Killed" & "Ambush"

• Engels
• Upper Secondary (Key Stage 4)
• GCSE

Lesson objectives 

You will review "The Man I Killed" and "Ambush" 

You will consider repetition as a device 

You will consider layers of description and the effect of these

We will consider intertextuality 

"The Man I Killed"
1. List three of the details that O'Brien repeats in this chapter.

Star-shaped hole

Butterfly on his chin 

love of mathematics 

left cheek

tear on earlobe 

gold ring

sunken and poorly muscled chest  

head wrenched sideways

bell-shaped flowers 

clean fingernails 

slim and dainty features 

jaw in his throat

delicate wrists  

Repetition 

Three levels of description

Damage to body 

Description of physicality 

Personal history

Find at least three quotes for each area - you will post them in 

Damage to body

Description of physicality

Personal history

"Ambush"
2. Give two details about the actual act of O'Brien killing the soldier.

"Ambush"
3. Why does O'Brien question the kill?

1. This chapter is exactly in the middle of the novel and the title is "The Man I Killed". Explain why that could be significant. 

2. The character of the young Vietnamese soldier could be considered to be a symbol for an abstract idea that can be applied to the novel as a whole. What do you think that abstract idea is and explain your claim. 

3. The Vietnamese soldier is closely described in an objective camera-like method. What is the effect of this objective, emotionless descriptive style? Why has O'Brien chosen to employ that technique? 

structuring your sentences 

WRITER	VERB	TECHNIQUE	PURPOSE	IDEA
The author	uses	setting	to illustrate	the inner conflict faced by a young man who must decide whether to go to a war he hates or run to Canada and face embarrassment.
O'Brien	selects	symbols	to emphasise	the irony of patriotic fervour during a war that few supported.

What does Kiowa want O’Brien to do? Do you agree with Kiowa’s idea about how to deal with the Vietnamese soldier’s death?

'Napalm Girl' by Nick Ut, 1972 

''Napalm Girl' by Banksy, 2004 

Intertextuality 

lntertextuality is the literary term for the concept that each text exists in relation to others and is framed by other texts in many ways. Postmodern literary critics might say that texts owe more to other texts than to their own makers. lntertextuality is a broader concept than "allusion" or "quotation," which refer to specific references in one text that point to another text.

To apply the concept to The Things They Carried, one might argue that O'Brien's text is shaped by other texts about the experience of war that have preceded his, at least as much as it has been shaped by his actual experience of war. Texts are about other texts. Someone willing to go even further might argue that O'Brien's actual experience of war itself is shaped by texts that have preceded his going to Vietnam. That is, there is no such thing as "raw experience": We are acculturated: shaped through culture,  to have certain kinds of experiences by the education, upbring­ing, the cultural climate we live in. 

Adapted from: "Killing at Close Range: A Study in Intertextuality",  Author: Jeffrey Fischer

Source: Philpot Education 

Intertextuality 

Read and study Chapter 9 of Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front. Look for possible intertextual references from O'Brien's chapter, "The Man I Killed." 

Write down similarities and differences between the two texts. 

Remarque's novel is a product of World War I. It is enough a part of the cultural canon* that we can expect that O'Brien might have been directly or indirectly touched by it.

* (literary) canon: most important, influential, or definitive works in art, literature, music, and philosophy

Adapted from: "Killing at Close Range: A Study in Intertextuality",  Author: Jeffrey Fischer

Intertextuality 

Compare chapter 9 from All Quiet on the Western Front and "The Man I killed

Write a list of what seems to be common about the experience of "killing an enemy at close range in a war." 

Also, make a list of what you con­sider to be the significant differences between the texts.

Adapted from: "Killing at Close Range: A Study in Intertextuality",  Author: Jeffrey Fischer

Some ideas on similarities 

• feeling guilty
  
•  immobilised by feelings 
  
• close, detailed observation of the person
  
• close, detailed observation of the sights and sounds of dying
  
• recognition of the person as a fellow human being
  
• imagining the life of the person
  
• projecting your life onto the life of the person
  

 

Adapted from: "Killing at Close Range: A Study in Intertextuality",  Author: Jeffrey Fischer

•  Reacting without thinking
•  First time killing at close range.
• considering the family, perhaps to apologise
  
• repetition of haunting words, phrases, or images that signify "can't get it out of my mind"
  
• struggling to get closure
  
• no longer able to dehumanize the enemy
  
• getting help or help suggested from more "hardened" comrades
  

 

Some ideas on differences 

• Initially avoids looking at the victim but afterwards cannot look away (similarity). 
  
• Victim does not immediately die. 
• The narrator tries to help the victim, but also considers shooting the victim. 
• The narrator wants to write to an imagined wife and child, but does not have the resolve. 

• The narrator finds tangible proof of the victim's life. 
  
• The narrator learns the victim's name and profession. 
• Victim is forgotten in the narrator's will to survive and live. 

Write two paragraphs comparing and contrasting 

Compare and contrast these two texts. The guiding question is: 

Literary works are often said to speak to and be informed by other texts. To what extent, how and why is this true for these two texts? 

BTW this is a question from a Lang Lit Paper 2 

Concepts HL Lang Lit 

The Things they Carried

Concepts we generated: 

friendship or relationships, trauma, storytelling, responsibility, guilt

Linking words and phrases for comparative writing

When moving from comparison to contrast, use words and phrases like:

although, however, otherwise, unlike, whereas, yet, conversely, on the contrary, still, nevertheless, regardless, despite, even though, at the same time, on the one hand, and on the other hand.

When comparing, use words and phrases like: 
both, similar to, also, similarly, likewise, in the same way, in common with, compared to, and as well as.

Constructing a thesis statement 

1. Carefully read the Guiding Question and determine the focus and key words that must be implemented in the thesis statement.  The key words will typically be the literary or linguistic element from the Guiding Question.

2. Look for the “insightful ideas” from your annotations while also considering the key words of the Guiding Question.

3. Flip the Guiding Question into a thesis statement.

4. Use evaluative language in your thesis statement. 

Evaluative language. Adjectives/adverbs indicating evaluation 

effective(ly)	Intentional(ly)
clever(ly)	Clear(ly)
Powerful(ly)	conscious(ly)
Wise(ly)	successful(ly)
Subtle(ly)	skillful(ly)
Surreptitious(ly)	dramatical(ly)

Post your thesis statement for this guiding question.

MPO

Multiple paragraph outline

Complete your MPO using your thesis statement and the evidence you have collected. You must fill out the audience and author relationship that is established through this evidence. 

Do not fill in the introduction at the moment. 

Write two body paragraphs 

Put your compare and contrast paragraphs in your class notebook. Make a new tab and give it the name intertextuality in "The Man I Killed".

We will add more written responses to this tab later. 

Write two body paragraphs use the colour coding to help the structure. 

Use linking words and phrases to show your audience how your arguments fit together. 

When moving from comparison to contrast, use words and phrases like:

although, however, otherwise, unlike, whereas, yet, conversely, on the contrary, still, nevertheless, regardless, despite, even though, at the same time, on the one hand, and on the other hand.

When comparing, use words and phrases like: 
both, similar to, also, similarly, likewise, in the same way, in common with, compared to, and as well as.

Colour coding body paragraph