COMPLETE ENGLISH 11 HONORS FINAL EXAM FLASHCARDS

Tim O’Brien

Narrator; tells stories to cope with guilt, trauma, and memory.

Jimmy Cross

Lieutenant; carries guilt over Ted Lavender's death; obsessed with Martha.

Kiowa

Devout Baptist; moral and spiritual compass; dies in sewage field.

Norman Bowker

Struggles with postwar guilt and isolation; can't reintegrate.

Mitchell Sanders

Storyteller; believes emotional truth > literal truth.

Rat Kiley

Medic; emotional and raw; shoots self to escape war.

Ted Lavender

Anxious soldier; takes tranquilizers; dies early.

Curt Lemon

Cocky; afraid of the dentist; dies while playing with grenade.

Azar

Immature and cruel; makes inappropriate jokes about death.

Henry Dobbins

Big and kind; wears girlfriend's pantyhose for luck.

Lee Strunk

Fights Jensen; loses leg; begs not to be killed.

Dave Jensen

Breaks his own nose out of guilt; makes a death pact.

Kathleen

Tim’s daughter; symbolizes innocence.

Martha

Jimmy Cross’s obsession; distant, represents unattainable love.

Elroy Berdahl

Silent, kind old man who gives O’Brien space to decide about the war.

Guilt & Responsibility (who)

Cross, Bowker, O'Brien feel deep guilt.

Masculinity & Identity

Performing toughness while hiding emotion.

Death & Loss

Constant; surreal and often senseless.

Fear & Shame

Drives decisions more than patriotism.

Imagination & Truth

Blurs line between reality and fiction.

Trauma

Lingers even after war ends.

Storytelling

Helps preserve memory and process grief.

Symbol: Martha’s letters & photos

Distraction and emotional burden.

Symbol: The pebble

Love and longing; symbolic comfort.

Symbol: Kiowa’s Bible/moccasins

Faith, morality, and silence.

Symbol: Pantyhose

Henry Dobbins’ lucky charm; emotional anchor.

Symbol: Dead Vietnamese man

O’Brien's guilt and storytelling.

Symbol: Mud/sewage field

Kiowa’s death; emotional weight of war.

Alliteration

Repeating first sounds (“silent soldiers”).

Allusion

Reference to other works (Bonnie & Clyde).

Characterization

How author develops a character.

Connotation

Emotional meaning (“home” = warmth).

Denotation

Dictionary definition (“home” = residence).

Diction

Word choice (often blunt or emotional).

Figurative Language

Similes, metaphors, symbolism.

Hyperbole

Exaggeration (“a million pounds of guilt”).

Imagery

Sensory language (“pink mist,” “mud”).

Irony

Unexpected outcomes; Lavender dies after peeing.

Juxtaposition

Contrasting ideas (war is beautiful + horrific).

Metaphor

War as fog, burden, weight.

Simile

“Like cement” when Lavender dies.

Symbol

Physical objects that represent emotions.

Syntax

Sentence structure affects tone/mood.

Tone

Author’s attitude (reflective, bitter, mournful).

Inference

Educated guess; implied meaning.

Implicit vs. Explicit

Implied vs. directly stated.

Rhetorical Purpose

Why the author tells the story.

Parallel Structure

Repetition for rhythm/emphasis (“They carried…”).

Plot structure: Exposition

Intro of setting/characters.

Plot structure: Rising Action

Conflict builds

Climax

Turning point/high tension.

Falling Action

Conflict winds down.

Resolution

Conflict is resolved.

1st Person POV

Narrator is in the story (“I”).

2nd Person POV

Narrator addresses “you” (rare).

3rd Person Limited

3rd Person Limited

3rd Person Omniscient

Thoughts of all characters known.

“On the Rainy River”

Shame > morality; fear of judgment.

“How to Tell a True War Story”

Truth is emotional, not factual.

“The Dentist” (Curt Lemon)

Fear hides behind boldness.

Rat Kiley’s buffalo

Grief channeled through violence.

Norman Bowker

Can’t express trauma; example of postwar silence.

Linda (O’Brien’s first love)

Death and memory's role in healing.

Spin

War includes oddly sweet, funny, sad moments.

In-text citation formatting

“Quote” (O’Brien 42).

Works Cited (book) formatting

O’Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. Mariner Books, 2009.

Formatting (docment)

12 pt. Times New Roman, double-spaced, header with name/page number.

Works Cited Page

Alphabetized, separate page, hanging indent.

Motif

Repeated element or idea.

Theme

Main message/idea.

Foreshadowing

Hints of what’s to come.

Flashback

A scene from the past.

Dialogue

Character conversation.

Mood

Reader’s emotional response.

Narrative Structure

How a story is built (e.g., nonlinear).

Story-truth

An emotional or imagined version of events that feels real.

Happening-truth

What literally occurred; factual, historical truth.

Example of Story-truth

O’Brien imagines the man he killed’s life and backstory.

Example of Happening-truth

O’Brien threw a grenade and killed a man in Vietnam.

Mournful

Expresses sadness, loss (e.g. Kiowa’s death).

Reflective

Thoughtful; O’Brien looks back on events as an older man.

Bitter

Resentful, critical (e.g. toward people who don’t understand war).

Ironical

Emphasizes contrast or absurdity (e.g. calling war “mellow”).

Tone vs. Mood

Tone = author’s attitude; Mood = reader’s emotional response.

Symbol vs. Metaphor

Symbol = object with deeper meaning; Metaphor = comparison

Irony trap

Watch for unexpected opposites (e.g. tranquilizers = calm, then death).

Point of View trap

Watch for shifts; narrator can reflect back vs. live through events.

Lavender’s Death

Forces Cross to face guilt; burns Martha’s letters.

Linda

O’Brien’s childhood love; shows death can be softened through memory/story

Rat Kiley’s Buffalo Scene

Symbol of displaced grief after Lemon’s death.

Norman Bowker

Drives in circles; represents postwar silence and PTSD.

Metonymy

Related term replaces whole (e.g. “the crown” = the king).

Synecdoche

Part stands in for whole (e.g. “all hands on deck”).

Anaphora

Repetition at the start of lines (“They carried…”).

Ambiguity

Unclear meaning; invites multiple interpretations (TTTC thrives on this!).

True War Story Rule

If it sounds moral or uplifting, it’s probably false.

Purpose of Buffalo Scene

Not cruelty — it’s Rat Kiley’s grief for Curt Lemon.

Why O'Brien writes

To keep people alive through storytelling and to process grief.

Mitchell Sanders's lesson → Truth is emotional, not always literal; it's about how a story feels.

Truth is emotional, not always literal; it's about how a story feels.

Jimmy Cross's leadership shift

Becomes stricter after Lavender's death out of guilt.