1. Contemporary Fiction Page 960
2010 COS – RL ; RL ; RL ; RL ; W ; W ; W ; W ; SL ; L ; L ; L ; L

2. Tim O’Brien He used the Vietnam War as his subject for several books.
He served during the Vietnam War.

3. Literary Terms (p. 962)
Conflict – a struggle between opposing forces or characters.
External Conflict – Can involve two people or a person and a natural or artificial force
Internal Conflict – Involves opposing forces within a person’s mind

4. Identifying Historical Context
The setting of a story includes not only its time and place but also its historical context – the social and political environment unique to that time and place.

5. Background Info for Story
The Vietnam War started in the late 1950s and ended in 1975
Almost 60,000 Americans died
Much-protested war
North Vietnam – communist
South Vietnam – non-communist

6. Quickwrite
What is courage?

7. “Speaking of Courage” (p. 963)
Identify the place and date of the setting
What is Paul’s biggest regret?
Who does Paul want to talk to most? Why?
What does Paul’s drive around the lake symbolize?
Considering the historical context of the story, what is symbolic about the date on which these events take place?
What is Paul’s inner conflict? Has it been resolved by the end of the story? Explain.

8. Double Bubble On your paper, use a double bubble to compare Paul Berlin from “Speaking of Courage” and Harold Krebs from “Soldier’s Home” (p. 685)

9. Double Bubble P. 970 Question 12 -- cite at least one
Vietnam War
World War I
Feels like a failure
Decides to leave home
No homecoming celebration
Life is going nowhere
Makes no future plans
Does not feel he can speak honestly about the war
Public support for the war
No public support for the war
Wants to talk to someone
P Question cite at least one
reference to the story
P. 971 Vocabulary Development 1-5