Thursday, December 12 Tim O' Brien's "On a Rainy River" day 2

DUE FRIDAY: figurative language test and 10 vocabulary words from "On a Rainy River"  The figurative language terms are what  we did in class on Monday and Tuesday, whilst the ten vocabulary words are on Wednesday's blog.
In class today; you will need your handout of the short story. I have no extras; if you loose yours, you can get a copy on line or on Wednesday's blog.

Background
1. The Vietnam War (1957-
1975) was one of the most
controversial military
conflicts in the history of the
United States.

 2. The U.S. entered the war in
1964 in hopes of preventing
the spread of communism
throughout Southeast Asia.

3. During the course of the war,
nearly 3 million Americans
were sent overseas to
defend the South Vietnamese
government against a
takeover by Communist North
Vietnam and the Viet Cong,
a South Vietnamese
Communist rebel force.

4. During the war, nearly 2 million
men were drafted into the military.

5. Those who were drafted but who opposed
the war faced a difficult decision:
– risk their lives in a foreign war they
couldn’t justify.
– risk imprisonment at home by refusing
to serve.

6. Some burned
their draft cards
as a form of protest.
• Others fled the
country, most often
by crossing the
border into Canada.

In class today: please read the introductory material to the story and answer the questions on the accompanying handout. This is due at the end of class. 
 Name________________________________________________

“On the Rainy River”  organizer for the introductory material.  Respond to each of the following by quoting the text. Weave the response into your own sentence, adjusting, abbreviating and augmenting as needed. Remember to use brackets, as needed. DO NOT PARAPHRASE; neither should you pull out whole lines of text.

1.       What previous exposure to the military did O’Brien have as a child?

2.       What were O’Brien’s initial plans after graduation? What ultimately happened? (Write one sentence, using clauses and a semi-colon as needed.)

3.       What is the essential question that O’Brien explores in his writings?

4.       In what ways, does the story reflect “O’Brien’s own conflicted decision to go to war?”